Alentejo wines
Among the various kinds of alcoholic drinks available, wine drinking has always been regarded as an elitist and sophisticated practice in many cultures of the world. This is because all good wines are usually more expensive, though there are certain cheaper versions available in the market, and therefore wine drinking is restricted to being the forte of the wealthy and rich. Moreover, the popularity of wine is further facilitated by the health benefits offered by it. Portugal has since antiquity been involved in wine cultivation and the huge amount of wine exports in recent years has given a tremendous boost to the economy of the country.
There are various kinds of wine produced in different parts of Portugal of which the Port wine produced in the Douro valley region is the most popular and considered the best in terms of quality. However, apart from the Port wines, the Vinhos Verdes are also immensely famous and it along with the Alentejo wines constitutes the premier wines which have lured the Portuguese domestic population for years. Also in terms of export, Alentejo wines have been able to carve a niche for themselves even in distant countries of the far-east having no wine drinking tradition like China. In fact it is interesting to note that while the Alentejo wines comprise of only 12% of total wine production in Portugal, it constitutes about 47% of the quality wine market’s quota. These figures are testimony to the popularity of Alentejo wines in Portugal. These wines are cultivated and processed in the southern part of Portugal in Alentejo where the rolling plains and favorable climatic conditions allow the cultivation of Alentejo wines. They are a very common drink for the infrequent consumer and are produced by both red and white castas. The red wines are soft and a bit acidic in terms of taste while the white wines are fruity in flavor.
