Portugal’s wines are entering a new phase. Once-overlooked regions are gaining ground as a younger generation applies international training and bold ideas, while established houses in traditional strongholds continue to anchor quality. Together, they form a dynamic landscape where heritage and innovation converge, with a clear focus on wines that are approachable, charismatic and built to be enjoyed now. 

We spent almost a month in Portugal visiting wineries and winemakers and rating hundreds of bottles, and our Top 100 Wines of Portugal 2025 report reflects this shift. Open a bottle of wine from our list from places such as the Dao or Colares and you will quickly see what we mean. 

While the Douro and Alentejo still account for a large share of Portugal’s still wine production, the most exciting players are spread across the country’s diverse winegrowing regions. Within each is a dynamic mix of established producers and newcomers making exceptional wines. 

The Douro region has 36 entries on our list, with three of them among the Top 10: the Niepoort Douro Charme 2023, Pormenor Douro Branco 2023 and Luís Seabra Douro Branco Xisto Cru 2023. As usual, our main criteria in selecting our Top 100 Wines of Portugal 2025 list were quality and price, followed by what we call the “wow factor” – the emotional response a truly great wine gives us.

It's the Bairrada region of Portugal, however, that gave us our Portuguese Wine of the Year. There, the wife-and-husband team of Filipa Pato and William Wouters have helped revolutionize the appellation through the adoption of biodynamic farming methods – an especially demanding approach in such a humid, Atlantic-influenced area.

They have also redefined how the baga grape is interpreted, finding a balance in a variety naturally high in phenolic content. While baga can yield rigid, austere wines in its youth, careful extraction and sensitive winemaking reveal a deeply characterful expression –  mineral, ferric, and full of tension and charm.

Their Filipa Pato & William Wouters Baga Bairrada Nossa Calcário Vinhas Velhas 2023, made from three 100-year-old-plus vineyards planted on ancient limestone soils with eastward exposure, is a beautifully pure and energetic expression of baga. Made with Pato's refined touch, the wine harnesses a dark inner energy and shows just how sophisticated this grape can be.

On the day we visited Pato and Wouters at their home in the small village of Ois do Bairro, where Pato's grandfather was the first grower in Bairrada to bottle wines under his own name –  a courageous act of independence during what was then a period of dictatorship in the country – Pato shared how deeply committed they are to biodynamically farming their 20 hectares of vineyards (spread across 37 small plots) and four hectares of forest.

“For us, biodynamics is not just about the land – it also reflects how we work together as a team,” she said. “You need to live where you work, feel the rhythm of the vines and seasons, and collaborate closely with everyone involved, because this connection to place, time, and people is at the heart of our philosophy.”

Our No. 2 wine comes from a region just 40 minutes north of Lisbon that nearly disappeared due to real estate development and vineyard abandonment. Today, the appellation of Colares counts only about 20 hectares under vine and is something of a hidden treasure.

The Viúva Gomes Malvasia de Colares Colares 2022 is made from vines that grow in the traditional rastrero style, creeping along the sandy soils and shielded from Atlantic winds by cane walls. To plant, growers must dig through three meters of sand before the roots can anchor in the clay below. Their malvasia, as winemaker Diogo Baeta explained, is sourced from three different plots of old, ungrafted vines planted on sandy soils right by the sea.

The resulting wine has a discreet personality – delicate and elegant, with subtle floral notes as well as a saline thread. It’s a unique expression of place, and at around $60 a bottle, it’s also a bargain.

At No. 3, the Niepoort Douro Charme 2023 stands as a legend in the Douro – a wine that defied many prevailing notions of what a red table wine from the region should be at the time of its first release, in 2002. Its name, Charme, is a subtle nod to Burgundy. The fruit comes from old, mixed vineyards in Vale de Mendiz, with some parcels in the north and one in the south.

What made this wine a game-changer when it first came out was the approach used in its vinification. At a time when long, aggressive macerations dominated Douro winemaking, Charme marked a shift toward shorter extractions – an idea that seemed almost prosaic in the region back then. As owner Dirk van der Niepoort explained, “As strange as it sounds, it was inspired by vintage Port,” being partly fermented and briefly foot-trodden with whole clusters in granite lagares (large, open vats) before the skins were removed and pressed once fermentation began. Extraction was, and still is, aggressive but maceration brief.

In 2023, the wine excelled, resulting in a perfumed, vibrant, almost ethereal expression, yet with sufficient flesh. After its brief time in the lagares, it was transferred to French oak barrels, where it matured for 18 months. It’s one of the finest Charmes ever produced.

The next two wines in the Top 10 are exceptional whites from high-elevation plateaus above the Douro Valley, where the native rabigato grape thrives in mica schist soils, which were formed near granite and give the white wines their linear acidity and incredible minerality.

The rabigato-based Luis Seabra Douro Branco Xisto Cru 2023 (No. 4) is a powerful expression of a single vineyard grown above 2,000 feet. The wine is tense, mineral-driven and shows discreet citrus aromas and stony austerity.

"We have this idea that Douro is only for reds but in cool vintages we harvest the whites in October [after the reds] with ripe flavors and abundant acidity,” Seara said during our tasting at his winery. “For me, rabigato is the best variety and the best expression of the region.”

Seabra was also in our top 10 last year and continues to make stunning wines in his studious manner, while advocating for ongoing advancement and refinement in the Douro region. One of his red wines, the Luis Seabra Douro Xisto Cru 2022 is also on this list at No. 73.

Somewhat of a newcomer to the scene, Pedro Coelho started Pormenor in 2013 with a commitment to high-elevation vineyards. We tasted his wines for the first time this year and are excited to include his Douro Branco 2023 at No. 5.

Like Seabra’s wine, this is a rabigato-based field blend. The wine is savory and flinty yet elegant, with a mineral core surrounded by round and plush fruit flavors.

At No. 6, we turn to one of our favorite regions, the Dao, and to one of its most celebrated younger producers. The Antonio Madeira Dão A Palheira 2022 is a blend of three old vineyards, yielding a refined wine but full of heart and expressivity. In this vintage, one of his top sites, Os Granitos, is also part of the blend.

The ancient, co-planted vineyards are grown on decomposed granite near the Serra da Estrela and farmed exclusively by horse, following biodynamic principles. The fruit is fully destemmed and aged in a mix of 225-, 400- and 500-liter used French oak barrels for two winters. The result shows tremendous purity and energy, yet with the underlying dark force that baga exudes, balanced by the complexity of the field blend. It’s an exceptional wine from an exceptional producer, with only around 3,000 bottles made. And at $36, it is well worth seeking out.

Similarly, Frederico Machado and Ricardo Alves have done extraordinary work in recovering old, co-planted vineyards around Bemposta, on the banks of the Douro River near the Spanish border. The Arribas Wine Company Belfo Palhete 2023 (No. 9), is a blend of white and red grapes, locally known as palhete. This is a focused wine favoring brightness over texture, with a flavorful saline character and an ethereal, lifted finish.

In the northernmost region of Portugal, meanwhile, in the villages of Moncao e Melgaco along the Minho River, is where the alvarinho grape finds compelling, fuller-bodied expressions in the hands of one of our favorite producers in Vinho Verde. The legendary Anselmo Mendes, who has spent nearly three decades working with alvarinho, builds texture and structure in his Alvarinho Vinho Verde Monção e Melgaço Curtimenta 2023 (No. 7) with 24 hours of skin contact followed by fermentation in French oak barrels. The result is a fresh yet rich and salty wine rounded by stone-fruit flavors and lovely aromas of lemon cream pie and shiso leaves.

Wine No. 8 is a collaboration between two passionate winemakers: Joana Santiago and Nuno Mira do O. Mira do O brings years of experience from the Dao (his Mira do Ó Encruzado Dão Branco Druida Reserva 2023 finished at No. 38 on this list) and Barraida (the V. Puro Baga Bairrada Outrora 2020, from another one of his projects, is No. 13), while Santiago’s joyous disposition is evident in the purity and liveliness  of her and Mira do O's joint project, Quinta de Santiago & Mira do Ó.

Their Quinta de Santiago & Mira do Ó Alvarinho Vinho Verde Monção e Melgaço Sou 2022 has aromas of sea salt, wild honey and nectarine, and offers a rich, textural minerality and  clean, zesty finish that makes you want to revisit the glass again and again.

And from the rolling hills of central Portugal’s Alentejo region, Antonio Macanita farms a site that dates back to the 14th century. It’s here that he grew the No. 10 Fitapreta Alentejano Os Paulistas Chão dos Eremitas 2021, which is named for the the site’s original stewards – Paulista monks.

Our Top 10 Portuguese wines offer a concise yet wide-ranging snapshot of Portugal’s best wines – not only from Douro but also from the Dao, Minho, Colares and Alentejo. Six of our Top 10 are whites – undeniably one of the driving forces in Portugal’s current wine scene – alongside one palhete, which is a traditional, co-fermented field blend of red and white grapes.

Stay tuned for more tastings and reports on Portuguese wines in the future. But until then, find and open a bottle of any one of our Top 100 wines from Portugal this year.

– Courtney Humiston, Wine Critic & Taster, and Jacobo García Andrade, Senior Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. 

Note: You can sort the wines below by vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.