Vinho Verde means Green Wine in Portuguese. It refers not to the colour of the wine but to the fact that it is young. Who can forget the immortal lines spoken by Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra: "My salad days, When I was green in judgement, cold in blood"? She's talking about when she was young, inexperienced and without passion. Anyway, back to the wine! This style is a speciality of the Minho region in Northern Portugal. The grape in this example is Arinto, a native variety that produces high acidity wines with lemon, green apple and floral notes. Vinho Verde is perhaps the most refreshing wine in the world, tasting great on its own but it's even better eaten with mountains of shellfish.
Green apple and fresh lemon, with a hint of sea shell underneath.
