Grape Guide
Blauer Portugieser
RedBlauer Portugieser is a high-yielding, early-ripening black grape of Central Europe, grown mainly in Germany, Austria and Hungary despite a name that suggests Portugal. It makes soft, pale, low-tannin reds and Weissherbst rosé for early drinking, and its lasting importance is as a parent of Blauburger, Domina and Heroldrebe.
Key characteristics
- Cross of Blaue Zimmettraube and Grüner Silvaner, so a half-sibling of Blaufränkisch
- Early budding and early to mid ripening, with a generous and regular crop
- Prone to powdery mildew, bunch rot, Phomopsis and esca
- Low winter hardiness; avoids cold, heavy, wet soils
- Colour mutations Grauer and Grüner Portugieser share its DNA profile
Typical flavors
Major regions
Pfalz (Germany) · Rheinhessen (Germany) · Württemberg (Germany) · Ahr (Germany) · Thermenregion and Kamptal (Lower Austria) · Villány (Hungary) · Moravia (Czech Republic)
Also known as
Autrichien · Badener · Blaue Feslauertraube · Feslauer · Kékoportó (Hungary · former official name) · Modra Portugalka (Slovenia) · Modrý Portugal (Czech Republic) · Oporto (Slovakia) · Portugais Bleu (Jura) · Portugieser · Português Azul (Portugal) · Portugizac Crni (Croatia) · Vöslauer (Austria)
Blauer Portugieser is a black-skinned Vitis vinifera variety of probable Lower Styrian origin, now grown across Central Europe, with its largest plantings in Germany and its best-known Austrian base in Lower Austria. The name misleads: genetic work places its parents in Central Europe, not on the Iberian Peninsula. It buds and ripens early and crops heavily, which made it a staple of cool-climate red production through much of the twentieth century.
In the glass it is typically pale to medium ruby, low in tannin, with simple red-berry fruit and modest weight. Most bottlings are made to be drunk within a year or two, and a sizeable share of the crop becomes Weissherbst, the Germanic single-variety rosé category. Restricted yields, warm sites and some oak give fuller wines in parts of Hungary, but the variety rarely offers depth or longevity. Plantings have contracted in Germany and Austria since the 1990s as growers have turned to varieties with more colour and structure.
Parentage analysis published in 2016 showed that Blauer Portugieser is a cross between Blaue Zimmettraube, the seed parent, and Grüner Silvaner, the pollen parent. Blaue Zimmettraube is a nearly vanished old variety, itself a descendant of Blauer Gänsfüsser; it was rediscovered in Rheinhessen and, as a single vine, in Friuli, where it had been known as Sbulzina. The same study found it to be the seed parent of Blaufränkisch (with Weisser Heunisch, also called Gouais Blanc), which makes the two reds half-siblings.
Because Blaue Zimmettraube was grown in nineteenth-century Lower Styria (now largely Slovenia) alongside Silvaner and Weisser Heunisch, and red wine was uncommon in Austria before 1800, that region is the suspected cradle of both varieties. The popular story that Johann von Fries brought the vine from Porto to Vöslau in 1772 is not supported by DNA evidence, and the Portuguese synonym Português Azul appears to be a translation of the German name. A proposed identity with Moreto of Alentejo has not held up. The grey and green forms (Grauer and Grüner Portugieser) are colour mutations with the same DNA profile.
The variety spread through Austria, Germany and Hungary and was widely used in breeding: Blauburger (Fritz Zweigelt, 1923, with Blaufränkisch), Domina (Peter Morio, 1927, with Pinot Noir) and Heroldrebe (August Herold, 1929, with Blaufränkisch) are among its crosses. In Germany many growers abandoned it in the 1970s, but plantings recovered in the 1980s and 1990s before shrinking again.
Blauer Portugieser buds early and ripens early to mid season, so it is exposed to spring frost and to autumn rain before harvest. It is vigorous and reliably productive; without restriction it can yield well over 100 hl/ha, and that volume dilutes colour, tannin and flavour. It resists coulure but is susceptible to powdery mildew, Botrytis bunch rot, Phomopsis and esca, and its winter hardiness is low. It adapts to most soils except cold, heavy, wet ones. Quality-minded growers keep crops low, thin bunches and pick fully ripe, since underripe fruit gives thin, green-edged wine. In cool years chaptalization has traditionally been used to add body.
The standard expression is a light ruby red of low tannin, soft texture and fresh red-berry fruit (redcurrant, raspberry, strawberry, sometimes sour cherry or a peppery edge), often served slightly cool at 14 to 16 degrees C. Acidity varies with yield and site: high-cropped wines can seem thin, warm-site wines soft. Weissherbst, a pale rosé made from the single variety, is a major outlet in Germany, and in the Ahr it is sometimes blended with Spätburgunder. Croatian producers make it in a Beaujolais nouveau manner, and in France's Jura one grower puts it into a red blend meant for young drinking. In Villány, Hungary, low yields can produce deeper, fuller wines that take oak ageing. Examples built for long cellaring are rare, and most wines should be drunk young.
Where it grows
Germany
Plantings fell from about 4,550 ha in 2007 to about 2,200 ha in 2023, roughly 2% of the national vineyard, making it the third most planted red variety behind Spätburgunder and Dornfelder. The core areas are the Pfalz and Rheinhessen, with further plantings in Württemberg and the Ahr.
Austria
Area dropped from about 2,350 ha in 1999 to roughly 1,300 ha in the mid-2010s, mostly in Lower Austria, notably the Thermenregion south of Vienna (where it is one of the permitted varieties in the regional wine category) and the Kamptal. The synonym Vöslauer recalls the Vöslau area near Baden.
Hungary
Formerly called Kékoportó, it was introduced by German settlers in the eighteenth century and is now officially named Portugieser. Villány holds roughly 300 to 350 ha, close to a fifth of the district's red plantings, with other plantings in Szekszárd, Eger and the Kunság. József Bock and Ede Tiffán are among Villány producers who make it.
Czech Republic and Slovakia
Known as Modrý Portugal, it is grown mainly in Moravia, in the Velkopavlovická and Slovácká subregions, and in southern Slovakia as Oporto.
Croatia and Slovenia
Called Portugizac Crni in northern Croatia, where it often becomes a light, fruity young red, and Modra Portugalka in Slovenia, close to its probable historic homeland in Lower Styria.
France
Once widespread in the south-west, it is now a rarity. Domaine Ganevat in the Jura keeps Portugais Bleu among its plantings of rare local varieties.