In a place where winter freezes the bones and summer burns the skin, Beira Interior is home to wines with personality, mountain cuisine and traditions that are never lost.

Despite the existence of a vineyard in Beira Interior around 2,000 years ago, the Beira Interior Denomination of Origin was created on November 2, 1999, as a result of the agglutination of the regions of Castelo Rodrigo, Cova da Beira and Pinhel, which have passed to sub-regions since So. It is the highest wine region in the country, surrounded by mountains - Estrela, Gardunha, Malcata and Marofa - the vines are planted in plateau or hillside areas, between 350 and 750 meters in altitude. The harsh climatic conditions registered in the vineyards completely shape the wines that are beginning to grow there.

At hundreds of meters of altitude, dozens of grape varieties divide the space in the old vineyards, where the old vines are over 100 years old. We can differentiate them by the wide structure of their foot, a broad and curvilinear trunk, with a diameter much larger than the other vines that line up along the vineyard.

"This one must be over 100 years old and I will have to pull it out, very sorry for me, but it no longer bears fruit", explains Germano Santos, while walking through the vineyard, pulling some leaves in order to allow the bunches of grapes to receive Sun light. Germano Santos has one of those professions that we know that, year after year, will be completely extinct: he is a vine sorter. Without any effort, with just one look you know exactly which is the grape variety of each of the vines. The differences are in the more or less cut leaves, in the small knots of the branches or in the shoots.

In the region, the highlight is the white Syria grape variety, the most planted in Beira Interior, but also Fonte Cal, Malvasia and Arinto. In paints, Rufete is the most prevalent, with Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz. The harsh soil where the vines grow - often punctuated by stone - and the austere climate to which they are subjected, distinguish the region's wine. Large differences in altitude, relief, humidity, temperature, lead to different terroirs in the region's 16,000ha of vineyards. The soil profile in Beira Interior also contributes to this diversity, which is not homogeneous. The wines reflect the character of the land that saw them born: white, rosé and red firm, serious, elegant and long-lived.

Source: https://viagens.sapo.pt/viajar/viajar-portugal/artigos/enoturismo-na-beira-interior-os-sabores-e-tradicoes-da-mais-alta-regiao-vitivinicola-portuguesa#&gid=2&pid=35