Published by Jeremy.
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During our many travels in Portugal, we have fallen in love with numerous local grapes. So much so that Portugal is quickly becoming one of our favorite wine producing countries out there.
As such, we naturally had to try some higher end Alvarinho when we were in the country, and picked up a bottle of Muros de Melgaco to bring home. If you haven't had some of the higher-end Alvarinho and only know the green Vinho Verde, you're in for a treat- these wines can get fairly complex!
A Fairly Complex Alvarinho from Vinho Verde
This Alvarinho was medium gold in color with medium aromas of pear, yellow apple, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon, wet stone, peach ring candy, and beeswax.
On the palate, it was dry with medium(+) acidity and finish as well as medium alcohol, body, and flavor intensity. We had flavors of lemon, pear, pineapple, wet stone, beeswax, and grapefruit.
This bottle shows that Portuguese Alvarinho can have much more complexity and intensity than your run of the mill Vinho Verde, and illustrated why we love some of the rather complex bottles out there namely for ripe tropical fruit and minerality!
Alvarinho Food Pairing – Leek Tart with Faro Salad
We paired this Alvarinho with a vegetarian leek tart and faro grain salad as we thought the brighter acidity and riper fruit flavors would be a nice balance to the richer tart. We noted more green apple and minerality spiking with this pairing which we enjoyed as many of the other flavors held nicely.
But, to be honest, this is one of those wines that would likely hold up with an array of foods, so get creative here!
Score: 3 / 5
We'd buy a glass of this one.
Overall, while we certainly have had more complex DOC Alvarinho from northern Portugal, particularly with more intense minerality, we really loved the flavors of those one as it is moving into the riper fruit territory and still with some prominent minerality. As such, we'd always try a glass of this one!
Muros de Melgacao is located in Monção e Melgaço, Vinho Verde, Portugal. We purchased this bottle in Portugal and enjoyed it in 2026.
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