Grape in focus

Other white grapes: character on a small scale

Portuguese white wine is rarely made from a single grape. Alongside Arinto, Fernão Pires and Alvarinho, dozens of smaller varieties play a part. They bring aroma, texture or freshness to a blend. Here are the most important ones.

Our wines

Read more about the other Portuguese grapes in our overview of Portuguese grape varieties.

Antão Vaz

Antão Vaz (1,599 ha) is the white grape of the Alentejo, especially in cooler Vidigueira. It gives full-bodied white wine that can age surprisingly long. Because it is low in acidity, it is often blended with Arinto and Roupeiro.

Rabigato

Rabigato (1,911 ha) brings class and acidity to white Douro blends, especially in the Douro Superior. In our range it goes into the white wines of Wine & Soul, Luis Seabra, Quinta do Vale Meão and Niepoort’s Drink Me Douro, among others.

Viosinho

Viosinho (1,766 ha) gives fine, aromatic white wine with texture, especially at altitude in the Douro and Trás-os-Montes. Because it yields little and oxidises easily, it is usually blended with Rabigato and Gouveio. It is also a classic grape for white port.

Gouveio

Gouveio is the Portuguese name for Galicia’s Godello. In the Douro it brings body and fine freshness to white blends. Note: Gouveio Real is a different, rare grape.

Malvasia Fina

Malvasia Fina (2,182 ha) is Portugal’s most important true Malvasia, especially in the white wines of the Dão and the Douro. On Madeira the same grape is called Boal. What is called Arinto do Dão in the Dão is in fact Malvasia Fina too.

Avesso

Avesso, literally contrary, grows in the warmer south of Vinho Verde, around Baião on the Douro. It gives fuller wine than the other vinho verde grapes, with 12 to 13 percent alcohol, and is increasingly bottled on its own.

Plantings: IVV, castas mais utilizadas 2025 (ivv.gov.pt). Background: The Oxford Companion to Wine, via JancisRobinson.com.