Azal is a quality grape variety grown in the Vinho Verde region. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the main variety used to produce white wine in the region.

Raza's unique terroir, created by the magnificent sun exposure, granite soil with schist and clay areas and the harsh climate, very cold and rainy in winter and very hot and dry in summer, favors late-ripening varieties such as the Azal (white) grape variety.

It is a productive grape variety with a long cycle, early in budbreak and late in ripening. The bunches are medium-sized, very compact and heavy, and the berries have a greenish color even at the end of ripening. It reaches its maximum quality when planted in dry, well-exposed soil.

The Azal variety produces citrus-colored wines with aromas of lime, lemon, sometimes grapefruit and green apple. The taste is fruity with citrus and mineral notes. It has excellent freshness.

At Quinta da Raza, the Azal grape variety is one of the most widely planted and is used in three of our wines, the QUINTA DA RAZA FAMILY COLLECTION Nº1, DOM DIOGO AZAL and RAZA.

Being a very fresh grape variety, one might think that it only adapts to young wines, but in the case of the FAMILY COLLECTION Nº1 the Azal wine used was fermented in stainless steel and then aged in French oak for 12 months. It was a wine with a high alcohol content for the average grape variety, but with a very present acidity that supported the blend with Alvarinho and Avesso. It's a winter white produced with one of the country's freshest grape varieties.

It is in our most emblematic Azal, the DOM DIOGO AZALthat the variety expresses all its typicality. The aromas of lemon, green apple and sometimes lemongrass, and a unique freshness that ends in a juicy finish, give this wine a unique character that quickly transports us to a hot summer's day.

In a blend, with Arinto and Trajadura, as is present in the RAZAthe grape variety gives freshness and uniqueness to a wine that aims to demonstrate the most typical way of producing Vinho Verde, in which the grape varieties were mixed with each other and the result was the sum of the best characteristics of each one.

Alone or accompanied, the wine from the Azal grape variety deserves to be discovered and enjoyed, whichever profile you like best.