“Amor-não-me-deixes”, meaning “Love-Don’t-Leave-Me” could be the title of a romantic movie, a book, or even a song, but no. It’s the name of a Portuguese red grape variety, a designation that we might consider relatively recent, as it is not mentioned in works published before 1880.
Portugal is the country with the most variety of indigenous grape varieties. There are over 340 grape varieties suitable for wine production, according to the 2022 Portuguese Wines and Spirits Yearbook, published by the Institute of Vine and Wine. According to the same Institute, “it is estimated that in Portugal, there are nearly three times more grape varieties than in Italy and six times more than in Spain and France.”
This immense viticultural heritage offers an incredible diversity of aromas, flavors, and wine styles, making tasting Portuguese wines a truly enriching experience.
Morphological Description
End of the young shoot with a carmine edge of medium intensity and medium density of prostrate hairs.
Young leaf with coppery zones, lower side with null to very low density of prostrate hairs.
Flower: Hermaphrodite.
Shoot slightly striped with red; buds with low intensity of anthocyanin pigmentation.
Medium adult leaf, pentagonal, with three poorly defined lobes; medium green blade, flat to slightly irregular, slightly bubbly; main veins green; lower side with null to very low density of prostrate hairs; short and straight teeth; petiole sinus slightly open, with base in V, and lateral sinuses open, in V.
Medium, conical, moderately compact cluster; medium-length peduncle.
Round, medium, and black-blue berry; medium thickness skin, medium consistency pulp.
Dark brown stem.
“Amor-não-me-deixes” has medium budbreak and late ripening. It has very low vigor and a trailing habit, with medium fertility (1 cluster/ shoot) and produces wines with low sugar content, atypical, and with little color.
“Cheers to Valentine’s Day!
Morphological description taken from the Variety Sheet, published by INIAV – Instituto Nacional De Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P., in Information Leaflet n.º 280, of February 29, 2020.
