🏷️ Garrafeira

Garrafeira is a Portuguese label term for the best aged wines. The name comes from "garrafa", a bottle: the wine spent a long time in the bottle before sale. The rules are as follows. The wine must come from a single vintage. Red garrafeira is aged at least 30 months, of which at least 12 are in the bottle. White has shorter periods. It must also have slightly higher alcohol than ordinary wine of the same zone. Garrafeira is close to another label term, reserva. Both point to higher quality, but garrafeira implies longer ageing, including time in the bottle. Port has its own version, garrafeira port, aged in glass demijohns. The term applies to Portuguese wine and tells the buyer that the wine is ready to drink. It says more about ageing than about taste.

White and rosé garrafeira needs at least 12 months of ageing in total, of which at least 6 in glass bottle. The term is reserved for wines with a designation of origin or geographical indication and must be associated with the harvest year. The Portuguese rules are set out in Portaria 924/2004 of 26 July 2004. Madeira garrafeira needs at least 20 years of ageing before bottling.