Terras Madeirenses

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The viticultural landscape is defined by 'poios', terraces built to counter the slope of the hillsides and enable agricultural use of the land.
• Vineyards must be established on soils of specific types, including Regosols, Vertisols, Cambisols, Fluvisols, Leptosols, Arenosols, Andosols, and Calcisols.
• The proximity of the sea, altitude, and aspect of individual vineyard plots give rise to microclimates that strongly shape the production of these wines.
• The island has a pyramidal mountain-range orographic form, spreading across two distinct slopes with a steep coastline interspersed by small flat areas and coastal inlet platforms (fajãs) by the sea.

• The vine arrived on the island of Madeira in the mid-fifteenth century with the first settlers, who replaced the existing sugarcane fields with vineyards planted with vines brought from the kingdom of Portugal.
• Due to the small size of the plots and the rugged terrain, mechanisation is almost impossible and most agricultural practices, such as harvest, pruning, and canopy management, are carried out by hand.

• The musts and wines display high acidity, a result of predominantly basaltic soils with low pH, lending them the freshness that characterises them, particularly in the whites and rosés.
• The mild temperatures during ripening, combined with low temperature ranges throughout the growing season, result in the need for longer ripening periods.

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 PGI-PT-A0040
• Official trade body site — Instituto do Vinho, do Bordado e do Artesanato da Madeira