Portuguese wine: yes, the wines of Portugal extend far beyond port

Last month I had a story published in the Singapore Airlines inflight magazine, SilverKris, about Portugal’s table wines. You see, everyone seems to know about port (which you may remember from my post Interesting facts about Portugal is exclusive to Portugal, much like Champagne is exclusive to its namesake region in France). But Portugal isn’t just good at port, and has been making mighty fine table wines as far back as Roman times. 

While the Douro Valley is starting to make a name for itself in mainstream wine circles, the whole of Portugal is actually a patchwork of wine regions producing very diverse wines. The country has over 300 grape varieties in active production and is a master of blended wine, so you’ll rarely see single varietals such as shiraz or chardonnay. Think of Portuguese wines to be like highly sophisticated grape cocktails. 

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