Lagos

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The climate is markedly Mediterranean — hot, dry, and with little wind — with an average of over 3,000 sunshine hours per year.
• The region is sheltered by a mountain barrier from cold northerly winds, with an amphitheatre-like exposure facing south.
• The natural boundary of the Lagos DO, in the municipality of Aljezur, is the Odeceixe stream.
• The soils are non-humic lithosols derived from Silves sandstones, normal and para-hydromorphic psamitic regosols, red and yellow Mediterranean soils developed on sandstones and raña deposits, and podzolised soils over coarse sands and sandstones.
• The vineyards are found in harsher zones of stony, lower-fertility ground, generally with a north–south orientation and subject to Atlantic maritime influence and winds, with harvests that are generally later.

• During the Moorish occupation, the Arabs planted vines and exported the wine produced, a tradition later taken up and expanded by Christians following the Reconquista.
• The production of quality wines in the Algarve region was first recognised in 1980, and in 1994 the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional Algarvia was established as the guarantor of certification and regulation of Algarve wines.

• The white and red wines are clear or slightly opalescent: the whites range in colour from citrine to pale straw, while the reds display a ruby hue that evolves towards topaz with ageing.
• The white wines are typically delicate and soft, with aromas and flavours characteristic of a warm zone and some minerality, while the reds are generally more robust and tannic, velvety, relatively light-bodied, slightly tart, and with notably fruity aromas.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the specification (caderno de especificações).

All appellations in Portugal

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-PT-A1454
• Official trade body site — Comissão Vitivinícola do Algarve