The Verdelho variety has been
cultivated in Portugal since at least the 1400s. It is one
of the grapes long used in the making of Madeira. There is
also a purple variety, Verdelho Tinto, planted on
that island. There is some speculation that the same variety
is planted in the Douro Valley, where it is called Gouvieo.
The grape has been used there to make both dry table wines
and sweet, fortified wines.
Since the late nineteenth
century European outbreak of Phyloxera, there are very few
Verdelho vines planted in Portugal, however. In fact, authorities
on the island of Madeira had to implement a plan to revive
it there, beginning in the 1970s. A grape known as Verdello,
planted in Italy's Umbria region, may well be the same variety,
although this is yet unproven.
Western Australia, and South
Australia and New South Wales to some extent, have had success
with Verdelho as a dry table wine, although less than 300
acres are planted altogether "down under".
Verdelho grapes are small,
yellow-gold, thick-skinned, hard berries that are high in
acidity. It is an early-ripening variety and yields can be
The table wine produced from
Verdelho tend to be tart and lemony, crisp and refreshing,
with relatively good body. Barrel fermentation and oak aging
can add richness and complexity. The character can vary from
herbaceous, when grown in cooler vineyards or picked earlier,
to tropical fruit, when coming from warmer vineyards or picked
fully mature. Over-ripening may produce high alcohol and too
much extraction or maceration can make the wine coarse. Unless
treated in oak, its aging potential is questionable.