the drinks
Vinho Verde, ginjinha and port: the drinks on a Lisbon food walk
What is in each glass, where it comes from and which of the three tours pours it.
Reserve a place on the Baixa walk ↗The drinks, one by one
| Drink | What it is | On the tours |
|---|---|---|
| Vinho Verde | A young, slightly sparkling Portuguese wine from the far north | Baixa tour; first glass on the fifteen-tasting walk |
| Ginjinha | Sour-cherry liqueur served as a small shot | All three tours have a ginjinha stop |
| Port | Fortified wine from the Douro, usually sweet | Port with cheese on the fifteen-tasting walk; Port Wine Upgrade (18+) on the Baixa tour |
| Local beer | Draft beer in the tavern tradition | Baixa tour; with the bifana on the fifteen-tasting walk; beer or wine with lunch on the morning tour |
Vinho Verde: green wine, young wine
Vinho Verde means green wine, which in practice translates as young wine. It comes from the demarcated Vinho Verde region in the far north of Portugal and is released three to six months after the grapes are harvested, to be drunk soon after bottling. Most Vinho Verde is white, and it is very fresh, with fruity and floral aromas and a light fizz; the whites usually run between 8.5 and 11 per cent alcohol. The region has no single grape: producers use Loureiro, Arinto, Trajadura, Avesso and Azal Branco, among others. It is a good first glass because it is cold, light and in no hurry.
Why it opens the fifteen-tasting walk
The fifteen-tasting wine walk starts with a glass of Vinho Verde paired with a codfish cake. The pairing makes sense on paper. The salt in the fried cod meets a wine with natural acidity and a faint prickle, which clears the palate before the next bite. Vinho Verde also turns up on the Baixa tour as one of its four traditional drinks, so if you pick either walk, expect the glass in your hand within the first stops.
Ginjinha, Lisbon's cherry shot
Ginjinha, or simply ginja, is a Portuguese liqueur made by infusing ginja berries, a sour cherry, in aguardente and adding sugar, with cloves and cinnamon sticks the most common extras. It is served as a shot with a piece of the fruit at the bottom of the cup. The first establishment in Lisbon to sell it commercially was in the Praça de São Domingos: a Galician friar, Francisco Espinheira, left ginja berries in aguardente with sugar, water and cinnamon, and the result was an immediate success. Ginjinha Espinheira dates from 1840 and Ginjinha Sem Rival from 1890.
Which tour stops where
All three tours include a ginjinha stop. The Baixa tour's outline ends its named stops at Ginjinha Sem Rival, for ten minutes, and the morning tour's outline names the same bar, describing it as a family-run stall that is 130 years old. The fifteen-tasting walk stops at a historic bar that was the first to sell ginjinha commercially, in 1840. In every case ginjinha is a short shot: you drink it, thank the bar and move on.
Port: the sweet one
Port is a fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley. Fermentation is stopped early by adding a neutral grape spirit, aguardente, which leaves residual sugar and lifts the strength to between 19 and 22 per cent alcohol. It is typically sweet and red, often served with dessert, though dry and white ports exist, and in the European Union only wine from Portugal may carry the name. On the fifteen-tasting walk a glass of Port is paired with local cheese. On the Baixa tour the Port Wine Upgrade is an optional extra, and it is only available to guests aged 18 and over.
Beer, and drinking less
Beer has a long history in Portugal, and the cervejaria, the beer hall, is found in every region; Lisbon even has a museum devoted to the subject. A draft beer is the classic partner of a bifana, which is exactly how the fifteen-tasting walk serves it. If you would rather skip alcohol, the Baixa tour makes non-alcoholic options available, and the morning tour offers non-alcoholic choices as well. Tell the operator when you book. A food walk is long, and the drinks arrive between plates, so pace yourself and eat what you are given.
Where Vinho Verde vines grow
The Vinho Verde region is characterised by its many small growers, around 19,000 of them as of 2014. Many of these growers used to train their vines high off the ground, up trees, fences and even telephone poles, so that their families could grow vegetable crops underneath the vines for their own use. That picture of vines growing overhead explains the look of the region and the character of the wine: it is a product of smallholders making a young, light wine for drinking soon after bottling, rather than a wine made for long cellaring.
Port in brief
The English began buying port in the 17th century. In 1678 a Liverpool wine merchant sent two representatives to learn the wine trade, and while on holiday in the Douro they were treated to a sweetish, smooth wine fortified with a distilled spirit by the Abbot of Lamego. Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703. The names of many port shippers, such as Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Graham, Sandeman and Taylor, still show the British involvement in the trade. The name comes from the seaport of Porto at the mouth of the Douro.