Grape varieties

Grape varieties

Fernão-Pires

This is one of Portugal’s most planted grapes.

It grows more or less all over the country, but is particularly important in the regions of Tejo, Lisboa and Bairrada. It’s an aromatic variety – you might detect scents and flavours of lime, lemon, roses and other flowers, tangerines, oranges… and it’s best drunk young. It is also very versatile, sometimes used as a single variety, sometimes blended, sometimes used as a base wine for sparkling wine, and can also be harvested late to make sweet wines. Fernão Pires vines are frost-sensitive, and best suited to warm or hot climates. Outside Portugal, it has been planted with some success in South Africa and Australia. It prefers fertile soils, and gives high yields.