Tastings

Richness is all in this structured and savory avesso, from a property in the southeastern corner of Vinho Verde, just north of the Douro River. This has fresh, mouthwatering acidity to balance its dry peach-fuzz flavor. It’s firm and limpid, meaty enough for pan-seared albacore tuna. Soilair Selection, NY

Pale pear, peach and apple skin come together in this mild blend of alvarinho and trajadura, lasting with a cool juicy feel. As racy as the acidity may be, homing in on the pineapple flavor, it still needs a chill to tighten up the fruit. Where else in the world would you find a fresh white wine with brisk pineapple ripeness and granite minerality for $15? Tri-Vin, New Rochelle, NY

A blend of alvarinho and trajadura (60/40), this has lush and juicy d’Anjou pear flavors in the middle, then it turns more austere, mineral and mouthwatering in the end. Serve it cold, outside, with aged goat cheese. Regal Wine, Moorestown, NJ

Rich and round with white peach flavor, this blend is based on arinto (60 percent) with azal and loureiro. The blend creates balance and an electric complexity, the flavors lasting, simple, lush and delicious. For a Cantonese feast or Wednesday night takeout. Olé & Obrigado, New Rochelle, NY

Buzzing with lime-like acidity and peach-skin friskiness, this has a lasting fruit freshness to pour with Dungeness crab. Regal Wine, Moorestown, NJ

A blend of alvarinho, loureiro and avesso, this has the talc-like feel of Vinho Verde, along with notes of peppercorn and grass. Tastings Editor Corey Warren described it as “a porch pounder to ponder.” Built for a roast fish. Now Wine Imports, Livingston, NJ

Sweet ripe pear flavors fill this arinto, refreshed by brisk acidity. It’s clean with a hint of sweetness in the end, a poolside wine for a hot summer day. Regal Wine, Moorestown, NJ

Soft notes of almond and citrus meld together in this simple Vinho Verde. It’s smoky, granitic and mild-mannered. For grilled-shrimp pasta. Regal Wine, Moorestown, NJ

A clean summer wine as refreshing as a cold beer, with more gastronomic possibilities. All peach and lime, salty and sweet. Pour it at a clam bake. Elixir Wine Group, Bend, OR

Mellow green wine blending loureiro and alvarinho, this is round with smoke and leather notes. There’s calm acidity in the end; to chill for aperitifs. Aveleda, Pawtucket, RI

Fizzy and sweet, this is a soft coastal white that finishes balanced and clean, for any pan-roasted fish. Shiverick, Los Angeles, CA

From a 45-acre vineyard surrounding this 19th-century neo-classical palace, Brejoeira is a legendary alvarinho in Portugal, the vineyard established in the 1970s by Maria Herminia da Silva d’Oliveira Paes, though the wine had begun to lose some of its luster as its creator and driving force held onto the reins into her elder years. The vineyard is now owned by an investment group, the wine made by João Garrido, whose 2022 hit with the kind of rich, smoky alvarinho that had earned Brejoeira its fame. A wine with the stamina to age, this has tense yellow fruit and the kind of pale, oceanic density that would pair beautifully with fresh crab. Delicious wine, and easy to drink a lot of it. —J.G. Aidil Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ

This has the Atlantic perspective of a Muscadet, spicy and cool, complex with a touch of oxidation, briny and focused on abalone or percebes. It offers varied perspectives on the ocean, buzzing with briny energy, lasting and fascinating. Hard to resist with sushi. Tri-Vin, New Rochelle, NY

There’s an electric current of acidity running through this wine’s massive fruit, citrus pulp and peach-skin, it finesses its generosity with a mineral note of sun-warmed stone. Substantial and giving, an Atlantic wine for the transition from summer into fall when oysters and other shellfish drive the menu. Alt Wines, Coral Gables, FL

Based in the Douro, Luis Seabra has branched out to the Dão and Vinho Verde. He searches out parcels of old vines, whether to buy fruit or to farm himself; this fruit comes from vines planted in 1989 in the granite soils of Monção e Melgaço. Seabra lets the wine ferment spontaneously in large (1,000 and 2,000 liter) ovals of Eastern European oak. While he allows it to go through malolactic fermentation, the wine is still tightly structured. Sherry-like in its stony pallor, this has a green-olive savor and a lot of mineral attitude. Panelist Nacho Monclús found it ready to impress a guest, “For a restaurant that wants to show off and talk about Vinho Verde.” Olé & Obrigado, New Rochelle, NY

Round and sappy, this is a ripe alvarinho with buttery depths. It’s tense at first, loosening up with some air to give a Mandarin orange richness even as there’s plenty of structure to hold it. Easy and open, for arroz de marisco. Olé & Obrigado, New Rochelle, NY

Mellow gold in color and in its juicy peach flavors, this feels luxuriant and lush with enough acidity to hold it. Sweet pumpkin spice adds to the firm structure. For braised pork. Regal Wine, Moorestown, NJ

This is alvarinho grown on rich, fertile humus over granite rock. Most of it ages for nine months in stainless steel, with 30 percent aging in French oak barrels, lending a luscious honey-pot richness, caught by fruit-skin tannins. The fruit maturity shows in the yellow-gold peachiness of the flavor, yet the wine has stamina and should develop well. Or drink it now, with crab. Aveleda, Pawtucket, RI

With its simple pear and white-grape flavors, this wine brings some smoky lees and Atlantic saltiness. It’s the salt that lasts with the fruit in a clean, lush, delicious young wine. Alt Wines, Coral Gables, FL

Named for the founder of Aveleda, this wine was released in 2020 to commemorate the winery’s 150th anniversary. It’s a blend of alvarinho with 10 percent loureiro, half of it fermented and aged in stainless steel, half in 500-liter French oak barrels. The saffron-gold color predicts just how sunny and ripe this wine tastes, fully mature in its pleasantly abrasive peach-fuzz texture. It’s a bit like a Jurançon sec, chalky with toasted lees. For a grilled fish. Aveleda, Pawtucket, RI

The best thing about this wine is the finish, where it’s a volcano of granitic freshness. Up front, the wine is a little soapy and floral, needing a veal terrine to saturate it. Aveleda, Pawtucket, RI

A lemony alvarinho with earthy, fruit-skin tannins keeping it tight. This is simple and pleasing. Aveleda, Pawtucket, RI

Lemon-candy notes make this a simple, accessible alvarinho, clean overall, with a green scallion note of reduction. Aveleda, Pawtucket, RI

The top estates in Vinho Verde produce wines that can age and evolve for years—and Ameal’s latest Reserva is just such a fresh young white, at the beginning of its life at three years old. This is the first vintage made by the team at Esporão, which purchased the property in 2019. Grown at a parcel above the Lima River, this loureiro aged for a year in 500-liter French oak and 2000-liter Austrian oak casks, then rested in bottle for six months at the winery. On release, it tastes like a juicy summer peach, dripping with August sun, lush and delicious without overt sweetness, clean and aligned by its skin tannins, lasting with hints of flowers in the background. —J.G. Now Wine Imports, Livingston, NJ

The Lencastre family has owned this property near Penafiel since the 12th century, including the tower that dates to that time, and the “new house,” built in the 1700s. They planted a modern vineyard here in the 1970s and began bottling their own wine in the aughts. This is a clean loureiro with the kind of acidity that makes its buttered-rum richness digestible. With delicious freshness and leesy depths, this ends on notes of orange zest, full and complete. Quintessential, Napa, CA

The Lima River Valley is the home of loureiro, presented here in a ripe, inland mode. The variety’s peach pit and peach fuzz austerity centers this wine, with cider-apple and puff-pastry notes adding complexity. This is youthful and easy to enjoy now with a miso-glazed black cod. Tri-Vin, New Rochelle, NY

Golden and mature, this holds onto its cool, zesty lime flavors and an apple-skin perfume. It has the stony, granitic spice that Vinho Verde can deliver. It’s a serious white, heady rather than fresh, with the complexity of bottle age. Tri-Vin, New Rochelle, NY

Fragrant and honeyed, this is a zesty, limey loureiro with depth and concentration, and some punch to its structure. Cool and clean, white peach and cherimoya flavors last, along with a grassy savor. Substantial enough for roast game fish, or cabrito asado. Now Wine Imports, Livingston, NJ

Tight, rosy, peppery and meaty, this has a high-acid red wine character in a funky pink rosé. It lasts on lanolin notes. For roast suckling pig. Olé & Obrigado, New Rochelle, NY

With sweet rhubarb and cherry flavors up front, this wine lasts on a watermelon note. Pour it cold with pâté or liver mousse. Regal Wine, Moorestown, NJ

They got the color Provence-right on this pale-pink rosé. The flavor is earthy rather than fruit-forward, needing a chill. Regal Wine, Moorestown, NJ