Portugal

A delicious Portuguese classic - serve it cold.

A fruity, spicy Portuguese red - generous, fresh and approachable.

Vinho Verde, the most popular white wine from Portugal, is a deliciously refresing, light wine. "Verde", meaning "Green" refers to the hints of lime colour. It makes a brilliant pairing with any fish, shellfish and poultry.

Constantly picking up gongs for brilliant value for money (Wine Spectator and others), Ciconia Tinto combines approachability with Alentejo's most likeable features of rich, soft fruit, with a bit of roast and dried fruit notes. Ciconia, for the benefit of non-twitchers, is the latin genus for the stork, and Ciconia Ciconia is the white stork, which so likes to breed in this region.

A classic Vinho Verde, with some gentle spritz and medium / medium-dry. It boasts wonderful green-grassy freshness and is thoroughly moreish.

The striking, zesty and green-fruit character in Beyra Branco make it an excellent and high quality introduction to Portugal for people who enjoy aromatic dry whites.

Red wines from the Dao should always demonstrate a certain succulence from a combination of altitude and granitic soils, but Maias Tinto goes the extra mile. At these even higher vineyards (around 650m), Jaen (Tinta Mencia) captures in the glass delicious crunchy fruit in this medium bodied wine. Maias is the local name for the Weaver's Broom plant which surrounds the estate here (its yellow flowers blossom in May in this part of Dao, hence its nickname - Maio is the word for May).

A really delicious wine which should replace cheap Prosecco the world over. Lovely sweet-floral fruits on the nose, and a touch of toasty / biscuit character. Dry on the palate, but not too Brut, tasting of apples and fresh lemons.

A half bottle of the last of the Niepoortland trio which is a series inspired by Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland. White Rabbit is Dirk's white port; a fresh fruity expression with a nutty finish that is amazing on a hot summer day served over ice with a splash of tonic.

A diminutive port to sit alongside your cheese board in handy half-bottle format. A staple from the ever-dependable Niepoort. Ruby is the brighter, slightly sweeter fruit-driven style that provides that warm hug of luscious, raisined fruit.

With its brilliant red appearance and brick red hues on the rim, the wine offers refined aromas of cherries along with a subtle perfumed floral character as well as superb finesse. Essentially the wine is elegant in style, however, the palate presents somewhat of an enigma – initially the fruit and elegance on the nose comes through on the palate, but with gentle extract. It is superbly balanced and fresh, culminating in a somewhat robust and firm finish with a tannic grip. It will be interesting to see this wine develop as it ages, undoubtedly, in a very elegant manner.

Portugal’s most popular Douro white wine and it is easy to see why. Vinified from grapes grown at high altitude (Planalto translates as “High Plains”) to retain freshness and delicacy in this hot region, this is a deliciously vibrant wine boasting ripe citrus and floral aromas.

Beyra tinto offers an unoaked expression of cruncy berry fruit and spice, with super acidity. Less on tannin, more on flavour.