Alvarelhão is a red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

grown in northern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

History

Alvarelhão must have originated in northern Portugal, but little is known of its ancestry. DNA studies have shown some similarity to Esgana Cão.

Distribution and Wines

Portugal

In Portugal there are 470 hectares of either Alvarelhão or the grape called Brancelho. It is blended into red wine in the Dão region. It is said to be part of the

port wine Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese wine, Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro, Douro Valley of Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal. It is typically a sweetness of wine, sweet red wine, often ...

blend in the

Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

, although it is not mentioned on the IVDP website as one of the main 11 red grapes of the Douro.

Spain

In Spain Alvarelhão is grown as Brancellao, where they also use the synonym of Albarello.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' It is one of the authorised varieties in the Galician wine regions of Rías Baixas DOP and Ribeira Sacra. Although similar in name, it is different from Albariño.

United States

There have been some experiments with the port grapes in California. It is possible that some vines have been misidentified, as the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

clone Alvarelhão FPMS 02 has now been confirmed as a

Touriga Nacional Touriga Nacional is a variety of red wine grape, considered by many to be Portugal's finest. Despite the low yields from its small grapes, it plays a big part in the blends used for ports, and is increasingly being used for table wine in the D ...

Vine and Viticulture

Having evolved in the Dão, the vine is both rough and hardy, having strong defenses against temperature extremes and inclement weather.

Synonyms

Alvarelhao, Alvarello, Locaia, Pilongo and Varancelha. German sources, including :de:Brancelho, refer to a Brancelho grape used in

Vinho Verde Vinho Verde () (literally 'green wine') refers to Portuguese wine that originated in the historic Minho province in the far north of the country. The modern-day 'Vinho Verde' region, originally designated in 1908, includes the old Minho provi ...

whose synonyms include Alvarelhão Ceitão, Varancelho and Verancelha. It is not certain that this is the same grape as Alvarelhão. Spanish synonyms include Brancellao and Albarello.

Notes and references

External links

IVDP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarelhao Red wine grape varieties Portuguese wine