Madeira Wine: An introduction to the Verdelho cultivar on Madeira

Verdelho

The Verdelho is a grape that is delicious, both as a wine and as a table grape

The Verdelho is the most difficult of the “Noble” vines to reproduce in Madeira. But through the hard work and strong willed meaningfulness of the Madeiran Vintager the legacy of the Verdelho wine will persist for future generations. It is also a delicious grape to eat on its own

Verdelho is a cultivar also found in the history books as a vine planted and grown in Continental Portugal before the fifteenth century. It appears to be similar in botanical cultivar to the “gouveio” vine cultivated in the Alto Douro area in Northern Portugal. on the continent.

This grape became the most abundant until the twentieth century on Madeira. It lost ground after that, however, to such an extent that the regional authorities over the Islands had to execute a plan to revive the then nearly diminished Verdelho cultivar.