Winemaker Notes
The perfect partner for oysters and “cracas” Works well with grilled fish, salads and fresh seafood.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Arinto dos Açores is unoaked, bone dry (half a gram of residual sugar) and comes in at 12.5% alcohol. This has big acidity, making it jump to life on the tongue. It's bright and a little spicy. That zippy nuance on the finish makes it lively and interesting. Then, there is the grip and length on the finish as well. This is lip-smacking good on many fronts, a fine effort in the brand. It is also one that seems poised to age well. It evolved beautifully in the glass and fleshed out with air and warmth. I would still pick the 2015 (not here this issue) as my sentimental best of the brand so far, but this could develop into it with a year of age. It is a fine contender. It does need to prove it can age, though. That is still an open question to some extent. There were 14,970 bottles produced.
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James Suckling
A medium-bodied white with aromas of papaya, dried apple, chamomile, waxed lemon and sea salt. Textured mineral layers with a waxy feel and tangy acidity. Saline finish. Drink now.
A white Portugese variety documented mainly along coastal vineyards surrounding Bucelas and Lisbon, Arinto shows marked citrus qualities with more stone fruit as it ages. Somm Secret—When a blending ingredient in Vinho Verde, it is called Pedernã.
Best known for intense, impressive and age-worthy fortified wines, Portugal relies almost exclusively on its many indigenous grape varieties. Bordering Spain to its north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean on its west and south coasts, this is a land where tradition reigns supreme, due to its relative geographical and, for much of the 20th century, political isolation. A long and narrow but small country, Portugal claims considerable diversity in climate and wine styles, with milder weather in the north and significantly more rainfall near the coast.
While Port (named after its city of Oporto on the Atlantic Coast at the end of the Douro Valley), made Portugal famous, Portugal is also an excellent source of dry red and white Portuguese wines of various styles.
The Douro Valley produces full-bodied and concentrated dry red Portuguese wines made from the same set of grape varieties used for Port, which include Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (Spain’s Tempranillo), Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão, among a long list of others in minor proportions.
Other dry Portuguese wines include the tart, slightly effervescent Vinho Verde white wine, made in the north, and the bright, elegant reds and whites of the Dão as well as the bold, and fruit-driven reds and whites of the southern, Alentejo.
The nation’s other important fortified wine, Madeira, is produced on the eponymous island off the North African coast.