Grape Guide
Azal
WhiteAzal is a late-ripening white grape of the Minho in northern Portugal, grown almost entirely within the Vinho Verde DOC. It gives pale, light-bodied, high-acid wines with lemon and green apple character, and has lost ground to Loureiro and Alvarinho over the last century.
Key characteristics
- Vigorous, productive and early budding, with mid to late ripening
- Compact bunches of thick-skinned berries
- Prone to powdery and downy mildew and to bunch rot
- Best on dry, well-exposed sites
- Close genetic relatives include Loureiro, Trajadura and Arinto de Bucelas
Typical flavors
Major regions
Amarante (Vinho Verde) · Basto (Vinho Verde) · Sousa, including Penafiel (Vinho Verde) · Baiao (Vinho Verde) · Minho (Vinho Verde DOC)
Also known as
Azal Branco · Asal · Asal da Lixa (Amarante) · Azal da Lixa (Amarante) · Carvalha · Carvalhal · Gadelhudo (Felgueiras) · Pinheira (Lousada)
Azal is a white-skinned variety whose home is the inland, higher-lying part of the Vinho Verde DOC in the Minho. It is rarely a headline grape today, but it remains a recommended variety in the appellation and is the cool, tart component in many blends from the interior sub-regions.
The wines are pale, light in body and moderate in alcohol, usually between 10 and 12 percent, with acidity that sits high even by Vinho Verde standards. Lemon, lime and green apple dominate the fruit, with floral and faintly nutty notes in better examples. Because the variety ripens late in a damp, rot-prone region, the harvest date decides the style: picked on time, it gives a taut but fragrant wine; picked early to avoid autumn rain, it turns sharply acidic and thin. Single-variety bottlings exist, though much of the crop goes into blends with Loureiro, Arinto and Trajadura.
Azal most likely comes from the Vinho Verde region of northern Portugal, where it has been cultivated for generations under many local names: Carvalha, Carvalhal, Gadelhudo, Pinheira, and Asal da Lixa around Amarante. So many synonyms suggest the vine has been present in the Minho for a long time, though no early written record has been established.
DNA work using microsatellite markers, published from 1999 onward, places Azal in a tight genetic cluster with Loureiro, Trajadura and Arinto de Bucelas, all grown in northern Portugal or neighbouring north-west Spain. Kinship within this group is close, yet no parent-offspring pair has been identified, and the parentage of Azal itself is still unresolved.
Azal Branco is not the same as Azal Tinto, a red-skinned grape. DNA profiling has shown that Azal Tinto is a synonym of Amaral, an unrelated variety, so the white Azal is not a colour mutation of it.
At the start of the twentieth century, Azal was the most important white variety in the Vinho Verde region. Its share then fell as growers turned to Loureiro, Alvarinho and Arinto, whose wines are more aromatic and fetch higher prices. National statistics from roughly 2010 to 2016 record about 1,400 to 1,500 hectares, a small part of its former share, although some secondary sources give a larger figure.
Azal is vigorous and reliably productive, and it buds early, which exposes it to spring frost in the cooler valleys. Ripening is mid to late season, and in Vinho Verde it is among the final white varieties to come in. Bunches are compact and the berries are medium in size with thick skins. Compact clusters and a humid Atlantic-influenced climate make the vine vulnerable to downy mildew, powdery mildew (the most serious problem) and botrytis. It does best on dry, well-exposed sites where air moves through the canopy and the fruit can ripen fully. Where it is picked underripe out of fear of rot, the resulting wines are severely acidic.
Most Azal is made as a still, dry white in the light, early-bottled Vinho Verde manner: cold fermentation, minimal oak, and bottling within months of harvest to keep freshness. The wines are pale lemon, with high acidity, modest alcohol and flavours of lemon, lime and green apple, plus occasional floral and almond tones. Some sparkling Vinho Verde and a few lees-aged versions also appear, and the acid backbone suits both. A light spritz from retained carbon dioxide is common in the entry-level tier. As a blending partner, Azal supplies acidity and freshness to riper, more aromatic Loureiro and to Trajadura, which is lower in acid. Varietal bottlings, such as the Azal from Quinta de Linhares, are made in small volumes, and some single-variety wines have drawn comparison with dry Riesling for their tension.
Where it grows
Amarante
The Amarante sub-region in the Tamega valley is the variety's heartland, and its local name Asal da Lixa recalls the nearby parish of Lixa. The permitted white list for the sub-region names Azal alongside Arinto, Avesso and Trajadura.
Basto
In the mountainous Basto sub-region to the north-east, Azal is one of the main white varieties, where its late ripening is tolerated on warmer, sheltered slopes.
Sousa
Around Penafiel and Felgueiras in the Sousa sub-region, Azal is a traditional white grape, and it appears under the local names Gadelhudo (Felgueiras) and Pinheira (Lousada).
Baiao
The Baiao sub-region, on the southern edge of the DOC along the Douro, also grows Azal.
Wider Vinho Verde
Outside these inland sub-regions the variety is a minor player, overshadowed by Loureiro in the west and Alvarinho in Monçao and Melgaço.