Expert’s Choice: 18 diverse and delicious Portuguese rosés

Pink might not be the colour most associated with Portuguese wine, yet the country is a source of a perhaps surprising diversity of rosés, of very different hues and styles.

Produced in all of the country’s regions, from Vinho Verde in the north to Algarve in the south, by way of the Madeira and Azores archipelagos, the wealth of terroirs, mesoclimates, indigenous grape varieties and viticultural tradition is reflected in a particularly vibrant rosé category, setting it firmly apart from France’s arguably rather monotonal Provençal offering.

A blossoming category

The success of Provence no doubt played a key role in the resurgence of rosé as a whole, but Atlantic-cradled Portugal has a pink lineage very much of its own.

It’s along the parallel lines of international influence and traditional revival that Portuguese rosé has arrived at a newfound maturity in the last few years. While still enjoying, with some ambivalence, the ever-growing success of Mateus Rosé.

The unapologetically pink, softly sweet (15g/L of residual sugar), and relatively low-alcohol (11%) wine in its characteristic flask-shaped bottle, was, in many ways, a revolutionary product.

Now in its 80th year, it appealed to an expanding ‘global audience’ (owner Sogrape says it still sees yearly double-digit growth). This success, however, might lie at the root of the fact that many Portuguese producers still look suspiciously at the rosé category.

A broader palette

‘With the exception of Mateus Rosé, the category was somewhat dormant until the beginning of the 21st century,’ says Diogo Sepúlveda, who, as Sogrape’s head winemaker in charge of all but its Douro wines, oversees the production of the rosé colossus.

‘The success of Provence sparked a new interest. Now we are really looking at it from the point of view of our regions and varieties,’ explains Sepúlveda, referring to the other (premium) rosés he now produces at Sogrape’s estates.

A simultaneous reassessment of the appeal of traditional, rustic styles of lighter reds and palhetes (co-fermentions of red with up to 15% white grapes), opened new possibilities for Portuguese rosés with deeper colour, deeper fruit and more assertive tannic structure.

This explains why the beginning of the 21st century saw the category develop along two main axes: Provence doppelgangers; and natural-leaning oddities.

The category has since come a long way, recalibrating itself and finding its own identity at the crossroads of tradition and contemporary classicism.

The country’s wealth of grape varieties is a major factor driving the singularity of Portugal’s pinks. The multiple showings in this selection of Touriga Nacional – notably relevant in a wider, ongoing reassessment of the variety’s potential – are well worth exploring and comparing.

But lesser-known grapes such as Padeiro in Vinho Verde, Alfrocheiro and Jaen in the Dão, Negra Mole in the Algarve, Tinta Negra in Madeira or Moreto and Castelão in Tejo, make for a characterful palette of pinks, each with particular aromatic nuances and structural framework.

Rosé with a different accent

With greater confidence (and a sense of fun!) among producers, Portuguese rosé has become more itself, but also more ambitious.

Stainless steel is now one fermentation vessel of choice, though not the default, with clay, concrete and wood also skilfully used to tease out varietal character and sense of place.

And firmly contradicting those who argue that rosé must be drunk simple and young, some wines are released having spent time in the bottle – such as the unexpected, and brave, 2017 from Quinta do Montalto (see recommendations); or in the cellar, as in Niepoort’s Redoma Reserva 2019, bottled in 2024 after four and a half years in barrel.

Simplistic is something that Portuguese rosé certainly isn’t. The selection that follows is full of delicious, unexpected and idiosyncratic examples that tell a bigger story of rediscovery and authenticity.

See notes and scores for 18 charming Portuguese rosés

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