Wednesday Wines – Episode 322 – Portuguese Holiday Special – my favourites for 2026
As regular readers and Members of matthewjukes.com will know, I always publish a hit list of fabulous Portuguese wines each year, specifically for those of you who travel to Portugal for your holidays. These are all available online or on supermarket shelves, and I highly recommend them. Even though you might be sceptical of a two-euro white wine, I can assure you that this white and all the others in this post are utterly delicious. The most important Portuguese word when buying wine is ‘poupe’, which literally translates as ‘save’! It is virtually impossible to predict which wines are subject to discounts and for what period of time ahead of heading to a supermarket, but when the word ‘poupe’ is emblazoned on a wine mentioned below, you must buy all you can because these savings can be as deep as 25%. I have researched the wines below and a couple are subject to deals at the time of publication. Of course, this might change, but I hope you can track down as many as you are able, as they will provide a delicious soundtrack to your summer holidays.
WHITE
2025 Vinho Verde, Adega Ponte de Lima, Adamado (€3.69, reduced to €2.75, Pingo Doce, Continente).
Nuts, I know, but this is a smashing wine and the price is laughable. Clean, lemony and juicy, this is a phenomenal VV and the finest value party white wine of the year. It’s an all-rounder because its palate is just that bit fleshier than many so that all palates will approve!
2025 Vinho Verde, Lima, Loureiro, Ponte de Lima (€4.29, reduced to €3.19, Pingo Doce).
With a little more refinement and a firmer chassis and a drier finish than the Adamado, this is the party wine for those with more classical palates. It is a perennial favourite and my favourite cheapie year in year out!
2025 Aveleda, Vinho Verde, Alvarinho (€6.69, reduced to €4.99, Pingo Doce).
With a lime cordial feel and a little more mid-palate depth, this is a foodier proposition, and despite its low price, there is a lot of class here.
2024 Planalto, Reserva Branco, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro (€5.99, reduced to €4.79, Pingo Doce, Continente).
Another awesome wine and the price is insane for a wine of this depth, complexity and finesse. It is made from a blend of seven traditional Portuguese grape varieties: Viosinho, Malvasia Fina, Gouveio, Arinto, Códega, Rabigato, and Moscatel, and it’s a permanent fixture in our wine fridge. With a slightly deeper palate, it is a main-course style that pairs well with all seafood and fish dishes, as well as churrasqueira chicken! I have yet to taste the 2025 vintage but hope to over the summer. That said, the 2024 is tremendous and not showing any signs of tiring.
2024 Papa Figos, Vinho Branco, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro (€8.49, Pingo Doce; €8.49, reduced to €6.49, Continente).
A finer wine than Planalto, made from Rabigato, Viosinho, Gouveio, Arinto and Códega, but not an everyday option because it is more vinous and more structured. A main course style, albeit unoaked, which is absurd value at the ‘poupe price’. Certainly, one to introduce into the mix during your holiday.
2025 Alma, The Pur Terroir, Loureiro, Soalheiro, Vinho Verde (€9.99, reduced to €6.99, Continente).
The tremendous entry-level wine from the greatest VV estate of all. Light, clean, rapier-sharp and nerve-tingling. And awesome value when it’s on discount.
2025 Alento by Adega Monte Branco, Estremoz, Alentejo (€8.49, www.apolonia.com).
Rather hard to find, I tasted this wine at a restaurant called A Talha in Estremoz and was very impressed. A new find for me, and it goes straight onto my list of beautiful, bright, light whites!
2025 Soalheiro, Alvarinho, Monção e Melgaço, Vinho Verde (€11.99, reduced to €8.99, Continente).
At 12.5% alcohol, this ‘Clássico’ Vinho Verde is mesmerising, silky-smooth, and blessed with discreet pear and almond hints, atomised with stunning sea spray flourishes. It is an extraordinary creation, and it blows my mind with its downright deliciousness and gluggability.
2024 Vinha Grande, Vinho Branco, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro (€11.99, Pingo Doce, Continente).
With hints of oak creeping in, this is a serious white wine which doesn’t feel oaked or heavy, just more intense and more detailed. It is definitely a main course style, but it still feels refreshing and complex. Perfect with sardines.
2023 Rafael Branco by Mouchão, Alentejo (€12.65, Continente).
Formerly known as Dom Rafael, this is an ultra-refined white, which retails around the £20-mark in the UK, so the value is superb. Long, bright, mouth-watering and classy, this is a fabulous wine which performs all tasks from aperitif right the way through dinner. Sophisticated palates only need apply!
2025 Howards Folly Sonhador Branco, Alentejo (€14.89, Continente; or direct from www.howardsfollywine.com).
Super-complex and layered, with a silhouette not dissimilar to a lovely Rully or Montagny, this is another amazingly refined white wine with a palate unlike anything else in the world!
2025 Soalheiro, Alvarinho, Granit, Monção E Melgaço, Vinho Verde (€15.49, Continente).
This wine is the ‘adult version’ of the Clássico (above). It does not set out to have the palate density or structure of Primeiras Vinhas (below), instead preferring to offer a more linear and elite experience than the juicy Clássico. To my mind, this elite mineral selection, which comes from high-altitude, mountainous slopes, is even firmer, tighter and more dynamic than any VV to date.
2024 Soalheiro Primeiras Vinhas, Monção E Melgaço, Vinho Verde (€20.19, Continente).
Utterly incredible, quietly awesome with a deep flavour and yet impeccable poise. It is a main-course Vinho Verde, with a palate-shape similar to a chiselled Premier Cru Chablis!
2023 Vinhas Novas, Branco, Adega Monte Branco, Estremoz, Alentejo (€21.50, www.garrafeiraimperial.com; €19.95, www.apolonia.com).
I first tasted this wine at Casa do Gadanha, in Estremoz, and it was an instant hit. This is a complex, soothing style made from Rabigato, Arinto, Galego Dourado, and Esgana Cão. It offers a completely different set of flavours from all the other whites, making it a beautiful option for high-end, fresh fish dishes.
2022 Howards Folly Reserva Branco, Alentejo (€29.39, Continente; or direct from www.howardsfollywine.com).
I cannot think of a finer Portuguese white wine. It struck me, on the very first sip, that this is one of the most complete, refreshing, complex and unique flavours in the wine world. It is a grand, layered, mineral-soaked beauty with an expansive perfume and heavenly flavour. It enchants the senses and yet remains nimble, medium-weight and lithe. It manages to pull off a remarkable sleight of hand by bringing glorious chapters of stone fruit and wildflower nuances to the table without being a rich or powerful wine. Made from a field blend that includes the Arinto grape among other unnamed ancient varieties, and matured in French oak and concrete eggs, there are discreet nods to Premier Cru Chablis, white Saint-Joseph, Reyneke’s fynbos-tinged Chenin Blanc and other soothingly delicious and yet wondrously complex white wines, and yet it combines all these traits while managing to engender a character all of its own. The vineyard is situated high up in the São Mamede mountains of Portalegre, and this must be the clue to this wine’s spectacular individuality. Do everything you can to track it down!
RED
2024 Esteva, Tinto, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro (€5.99, Pingo Doce; €5.99, reduced to €4.49, Continente).
A stunning cheapie, which chills perfectly and delivers a juicy, bright, Beaujolais-shaped experience with a slightly more black-berry-themed palate. Amazing, and a perfect red with sardines, as well as all manner of grilled or barbecued pork!
2024 Papa Figos, Vinho Tinto, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro (€8.49, Pingo Doce, Continente).
Like its white sibling (above), this is the best, serious-flavoured, inexpensive red around. It is heavenly with steaks and cheese, and if you compare it to world wine styles, it is the same shape and size as a sleek red Médoc or Coonawarra Cab!
2024 Vallado, Vinho Tinto, Quinta do Vallado, Douro (€9.25, Pingo Doce, Continente).
A bigger, spicier and more black-fruited wine than the first two reds, this is a classic Douro wine, with a bold violet and blackcurrant stance and a dinner, as opposed to lunch, feel. It chills surprisingly well, too.
2023 Vinha Grande, Vinho Tinto, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro (€11.99, Pingo Doce, Continente).
The red equivalent of the white (above), and this time, the flavours are bold, dry, classical and also discreetly oaked. It is a brilliant wine, even though the label is not exactly exciting! Decant it if you can, as there is a lot to admire here.
2023 Rafael Tinto by Mouchão, Alentejo (€12.65, Pingo Doce, Continente).
Formerly known as Dom Rafael, this is a bold, dark, bonfire and plum-soaked wine with a terrific finish. This is the best vintage I have ever tasted, and the price tag is sensational for a wine of this breeding.
2023 Howards Folly Frescho Tinto, Alentejo (€12.89, Continente; or direct from www.howardsfollywine.com).
Designed to be chilled, hence the tongue-in-cheek name, this is a tremendous, modern, velvety-smooth wine with a cheery, red-fruited palate and a tart, refreshing finish.
2023 Cedro do Noval, Tinto (€16.39, Continente; €13.90, www.garrafeiranacional.com). – With more texture and succulence than the Passadouro (below), this is a controlled, layered, raspberry- and red cherry-soaked wine which seems to me more akin to a Grenache than the other, meatier wines in this estate’s portfolio – definitely one to track down for elite dinners.
2021 Howards Folly, Sonhador Tinto, Alentejo (€14.89, Continente; or direct from www.howardsfollywine.com).
Think ‘polished Côtes-du-Rhône’, and you will be close! Expect there is no CdR on Earth that possesses the wild herb and summer pudding fruit notes found in this wonderful wine. Delicious and perfectly well balanced, I would drink it cool, not cold, for maximum impact!
2023 Sem Vergonha, Susana Esteban & Dirk Niepoort, Serra de São Mamede (€15.00, www.garrafeiraestadodalma.pt).
With a name that translates as ‘Shameless’, this wine is made from Castelão, and it is the most Pinot-like wine I have tasted in Portugal, and I love its sleek, silky, pink and red fruit tones and super-smooth texture. Again, this is a wine to chill!
2022 Quinta da Leda, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro, Portugal (€55.00, Pingo Doce, Continente).
Quinta da Leda is the principal vineyard from which three of Portugal’s finest red wines are born. Barca-Velha is, without question, the most famous red wine in the Douro, but it weighs in around the £500-mark, so not an everyday summer glugger! BV wines are destined to be the longest-lived reds of all, but when a wine tastes fractionally more forward, it is badged as ‘Reserva Especial’, and the 2017 will be released in the autumn with a price tag of around £250. With massive tension and extremely seductive fruit, this is one of the greatest Reserva Especials I have tasted, and if it were served blind, I would perhaps have said it was regal enough for BV status! But, again, this is very expensive, and it’s going to miss this summer, so my featured wine is the third wine from this vineyard, and it bears its name. 2022 Quinta da Leda is made from 48% Touriga Francesa, 41% Touriga Nacional, 7% Tinto Cão and 4% Sousão, and it spends 18 months in French oak barrels (of which 50% are new). It has an extremely balanced alcohol level of 13.5%, and it already shows awe-inspiring intensity and pagan clout. While 2022 was the warmest vintage ever, the palate is fresh, active, and wonderfully bitter. All things considered, this is the most cunning way to drink the heart of BV/RE, and you don’t have to drop a fortune or wait decades for the pleasure!
There are four more wines that I love, but I am still awaiting retail information. If you spot them, buy them!
WHITE
2024 Quinta do Noval, Passadouro White, Douro (RRP €16.00)
Brilliant, clean, refreshing and citrus-fuelled, this is a classy white with chilly acidity and a refined air. It is finer than Vinha Grande (above), with more definition and clarity.
2024 Cedro do Noval White, Douro (RRP €18.00)
This is one of the most enchanting Portuguese white wines of the year. With more texture than Passadouro White, there is more impact and more mid-palate brilliance, and yet it is not heavier. This is easily the best vintage of this wine ever.
2024 Cedro do Noval White Reserva, Douro (RRP €27.00)
And I am thrilled to announce that this is even more exotic, with an extra dimension of depth, flesh, texture, and yet there is nowhere near the old oak impact of the past, which was often too heavy and sluggish. This is the finest Douro, main course white wine of the collection and a rival to Howards Folly’s Reserva Branco!
RED
2022 Quinta do Noval, Passadouro Red, Douro (RRP €16.00)
The red sibling to the white (above), this is clean, balanced, red-fruited and spicy, with a welcome leafy crispness and fine-grained feel. There is no obvious oak or girth, making it a brilliant all-purpose, modern Douro red.