Alentejo

Alentejo's sun-baked plains south of the Tejo cover roughly a third of Portugal's territory. The warm Mediterranean climate, clay-limestone and granitic soils, and ample old-vine plantings of Aragonez (Tinta Roriz), Trincadeira, Alicante Bouschet and the white Antão Vaz produce ripe, generous reds and increasingly serious whites. Eight DOC sub-regions — among them Borba, Reguengos, Vidigueira and Portalegre at higher altitude — express markedly different terroirs. Alentejo is also home to the talha, ancient amphora winemaking that has been revived by a growing artisanal scene.