Will the real wine region please stand up?

[Eric Menchen]

I was trying to resolve some wines in my tasting notes, and trying to decided if I should break out Beira Interior into its own section. But then I got quite confused on Beira Atlântico vs. Bairrada. I had thought that Bairrada was the big region, and Beira Atlântico was within it, which is suggested a bit by this map: https://winefolly.com/wine-regions/portugal/ But then I found this page and map: https://www.vinetowinecircle.com/en/reg ... atlantico/ That shows Beira Atlântico as a large region (the outlined area), and DO Bairrada as a small area contained within it.

Is Bairrada just a large general area with DO Bairrada (or Bairrada DOC) a smaller area contained within? Is one of Beira Atlântico or Bairrada DOC completely contained within the other, or is it more complicated than that?

[Frederick Blais]

It is indeed quite confusing!

Assuming Wines of Portugal https://www.winesofportugal.com/en/disc ... /bairrada/ is up to date with the most recent information or https://www.cvbairrada.pt/en/regiao/ which is the region's website.

I think the confusion is coming from the fact that on wine folly's map, some coloring of the region includes both D.O. and I.G. if you look in the small prints under the region's name but then they ripped some parts of the I.G. out of the delimitation. Also Bairrada can be use to identify a wine region and a DOC within the region.

The bigger wine region referred as Bairrada on some maps or Beira Atlantico on others seem to have the same boundaries. Beira Atlantico is an I.G(geographic indication) and also includes a sub region of I.G. with the name Sicó that I have never heard of!

Hope this helps.

[Eric Menchen]

That did help Frederick, thank you. I particularly appreciate the link to the official page. So it appears that IG Beira Atlântico is indeed the large area, and the official name. It is sometimes colloquially referred to as the Bairrada region (e.g. by winesofportugal.com). But the DO Bairrada (or Bairrada DOC) is the smaller area contained within. The Wine Folly map is the most confusing as the area it points to in light violet is physically just the DO(C), but it lists both the DO(C) for that as well as the IG(P).

[Eric Menchen]

And apparently Vinho Regional Beiras, which I have a good number of notes for, went away.
https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-beiras

[Eric Ifune]

My belief is that Beira Atlantico is the larger region and Bairrada is a subregion of it.