Terrantez

Terrantez (also known as Cascal) is a white Portuguese wine grape variety that was once widely used on the island of Madeira to make the sweet fortified wine for which the island is known. Today, the variety is nearly extinct on the island. There are still some limited plantings in the Minho Province where, as Cascal, is a permitted blending variety with Alvarinho and other grapes in the Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) wine Vinho Verde. As Terrantez the grape is permitted in several of the Indicação de Proveniencia Regulamentada (IPR) regions of the Azores including Biscoitos IPR on Terceira Island, Graciosa IPR on the white island of Graciosa and Pico IPR on Pico Island.

Regions

Terrantez is a low yielding vine that is most widely associated with the wines of Madeira though its use in the wine and presence on the island has been slowly fading. Some plantings of the variety can still be found in the Azores, the Portuguese island chain located northwest of Madeira in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. There is also some plantings of in the Minho province on the Portuguese mainland though ampelographer Paul Truel has speculated that the mainland variety (known most often as Cascal) may actually be a different variety, though this has not be conclusively determined.