Indulgences

1. vinho do Porto

   Port wine

   Usage

   Portugal, from the demarcated Douro. Fermentation is stopped with grape brandy so the wine stays sweet, at 19–22% alcohol; it is a protected DOC. The main styles are tawny (aged in small casks), ruby (large vats) and branco, from white grapes

   Grammar Note

   "Vinho" is masculine; the city takes the article "o Porto", so "de + o" contracts to "do Porto"

2. vinho da Madeira

   Madeira wine

   Usage

   Portugal's Madeira island: a fortified wine at 17–22%. Around nine tenths is made by "estufagem" — heated to about 50°C for ninety days — while the best is aged unheated in wood by the "canteiro" method. Grape decides sweetness: Sercial dry, Verdelho medium-dry, Bual medium-sweet, Malvasia sweet

   Grammar Note

   "Da" is de + a: the island's name, "a Madeira", is feminine

3. moscatel de Setúbal

   Setúbal muscat dessert wine

   Usage

   Portugal, from the Setúbal peninsula south of Lisbon with Azeitão at its centre: a sweet fortified wine of 17–18 degrees. A DOC whose boundaries were drawn in 1907–08, made from white Moscatel de Setúbal (Moscatel Graúdo) and the purple Moscatel Galego Roxo

   Grammar Note

   "Moscatel" is masculine — the grape's name is also the wine's name

4. vinho verde

   Vinho verde

   Usage

   North-west Portugal, between the Douro and Minho rivers; the region was demarcated in 1908. ⚠ "Verde" is not the colour but the traditional name of the area — the wines come white, red and rosé. Chief white grapes: Loureiro, Alvarinho, Avesso, Arinto, Trajadura

   Grammar Note

   "Vinho" is masculine; "verde" is the same in both genders and does not change

5. ginjinha

   Sour cherry liqueur

   Usage

   Portugal: brandy steeped with sour cherries. In Lisbon it is poured by the shot in tiny stand-up bars. It is equally called "ginja"; the two are synonyms

   Grammar Note

   Feminine: "ginja" (the cherry) plus the diminutive -inha

6. aguardente de medronho

   Arbutus berry brandy

   Usage

   Portugal: a strong spirit distilled from the fermented fruit of the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), made in the hills of the Algarve and Alentejo. Say just "medronho" and people understand the drink

   Grammar Note

   Aguardente is feminine, medronho masculine. Medronho also names the berry itself; the drink sense is specific to Portugal.

7. poncha

   Poncha, Madeira's honey and rum drink

   Usage

   Madeira, Portugal: rum or aguardente with honey, fruit juice and lemon peel, stirred with a wooden tool called a "mexelhote". The name comes from English "punch"

   Grammar Note

   Feminine; specific to Madeira.

8. imperial

   Draught beer in a narrow glass

   Usage

   Portugal: draught beer in a narrow glass. ⚠ It will not be understood in Brazil, where the same beer is a "chope"; northern Portugal says "fino"

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ In the beer sense it is feminine — "uma imperial", plural "imperiais" — and identical in form to the adjective meaning "imperial"

9. fino

   Draught beer in a tall narrow glass

   Usage

   Portugal. A regional term: draught beer in a tall narrow glass. Used mainly in the north around Porto, where Lisbon would say "imperial"

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ Masculine in the beer sense — "um fino". Its first meaning is the adjective "thin, fine, refined"

10. cachaça

    Cachaça, Brazilian sugarcane spirit

    Usage

    Brazil: a spirit distilled from fermented sugarcane juice or molasses, also called pinga, cana or caninha. The defined strength is 38–48% alcohol at 20°C

    Grammar Note

    Feminine — "uma cachaça"

11. caipirinha

    Caipirinha

    Usage

    Brazil: cachaça with lime, sugar and ice, said to have begun in the interior of São Paulo state. Declared Brazilian cultural heritage in 2003 and legally defined in 2009 at 15–36% alcohol at 20°C

    Grammar Note

    Feminine — "uma caipirinha"

12. tabaco

    Tobacco

    Usage

    ⚠ Both Portugal and Brazil ban smoking in enclosed public places, restaurants included; you smoke outdoors, on the "esplanada" in Portugal or the "área externa" in Brazil. Buy it at a tabacaria or café in Portugal, at a street kiosk in Brazil. "Onde posso fumar?" — where can I smoke?

    Grammar Note

    Masculine. A single cigarette is "um cigarro", also masculine; the verb is "fumar"

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