📍 Alenquer

Alenquer is a wine zone in Portugal, north of Lisbon, around the town of the same name. It belongs to the Lisbon wine region and has its own DOC Alenquer. Vineyards lie in the valley and on hills sheltered from the cold Atlantic winds by the Serra de Montejunto range, so the grapes ripen more fully than on the open coast.

Alenquer makes mostly red wines, along with some white. The reds are based on grapes such as Castelão, Touriga Nacional and Aragonez. The wines are dark and fragrant, with notes of red berries and spice, and go well with meat. Whites are made from Arinto and Fernão Pires. The wine is often aged in oak, and many estates in the valley are family-run with a long history.

Alenquer is part of a region where wines are plentiful and very varied: from light whites near the ocean to full reds in the valleys.

For comparison with its neighbours: to the south lies Lisbon, to the north-west Torres Vedras, one of the biggest wine districts of Portugal, and to the west Óbidos by the coast.