VIDIGUEIRA WHITE LIQUEUR MADE ONLY FROM THE ANTÃO VAZ GRAPE VARIETY

Always at the forefront of innovation, the ACVCA, launches a new fortified wine. After Vasquinho and Vidigueira Licoroso Red, now it’s time for a new wine for appetizers and/or desserts: Vidigueira Licoroso White, made exclusively from grapes of Vidigueira’s most emblematic grape variety: Antão Vaz.

Fortified wines (also called fortified or fortified wines) are those in which the alcoholic fermentation of the must is interrupted by the addition of grape spirit, at a certain moment of that
fermentation.

It is a complex process, which often has set times, depending on the exact moment when you want to add the brandy. This moment of fermentation takes place at a certain time (for example during the night), which requires a physical presence to accompany the operation.

“The monitoring of this whole process at the winery is essential,” says Luís Morgado Leão, ACVCA’s winemaker, who adds: “After fermentation starts, we can determine at what time the must will have the amount of sugar that suits us. Then we add the volume of brandy that we have also determined, depending on the characteristics and profile that we want for a particular fortified wine.

Licoroso Vidigueira White is thus a wine where the Antão Vaz grapes were cold macerated before fermenting. The must was barely fermented, so it still had a lot of sugar in it, when the brandy was added, resulting in a wine of 18ºvol.

The Antão Vaz grape variety gave the wine an accentuated taste of ripe tropical fruit, especially pineapple and passion fruit. With a sweet and velvety flavor, this liqueur should be drunk cold (12ºC to 14ºC), as an aperitif, and goes very well with matured cheeses, jams or regional desserts such as sericaia.