Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Alvarinho Contacto is unoaked and comes in at 13% alcohol. This is a very different Alvarinho than the Muros Antigos reviewed this issue. I liked them about equally well, but for different reasons. The latter shows off its fine grip and zest. This hardly lacks that—it is rather intense—but it has a bit more personality, better aromatics and a hint of green and grass. Tasting them together and young, I'm hard pressed to decide. One issue will be how you feel about green nuances. That is certainly more prominent here. I like the extra personality, but your mileage may differ. It is just personal taste. As this lingered on the palate, I finally gave it a slight edge, at least for myself. It is a terrific Contacto, mostly on par with the brilliant 2015, not quite as ripe, perhaps, but even zestier while maintaining a bit of understatement. Sourced from vines over 12 years in age, there were 120,000 bottles produced—making this pretty easily available for a bottling that has often been exceptional (as compared to Mendes' upper-level wines that have very small quantities, like the Curtimenta).
Bright and aromatic with distinctive floral and fruity characteristics, Albariño has enjoyed a surge in popularity and an increase in plantings over the last couple of decades. Thick skins allow it to withstand the humid conditions of its homeland, Rías Baixas, Spain, free of malady, and produce a weighty but fresh white. Somm Secret—Albariño claims dual citizenship in Spain and Portugal. Under the name Alvarinho, it thrives in Portugal’s northwestern Vinho Verde region, which predictably, borders part of Spain’s Rías Baixas.
A cheerful, translucid, lemon-yellow and slightly pétillant white wine, Vinho Verde literally means ‘green wine’ and is named after the northwest Portugese region from which it originates. The ‘green’ in the name refers to the youthful state in which the wines are customarily released and consumed, not the color of the wine.
It is typically a blend of various percentages of Alvarinho, Loureiro, Trajadura, and Pedernã (Arinto). Following initial alcoholic fermentation, a natural, secondary malolactic conversion in cask produces carbon dioxide, giving Vinho Verde its charmingly light sparkle.