Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Alvarinho, seen only about two weeks after bottling, is unoaked, bone dry (one gram of sugar, six of total acidity) and comes in at 13% alcohol. This is, of course, real wine-no fizz. This is beautifully textured and elegant, a wine that starts slowly and lingers nicely. What I tend to be concerned about in this vintage is not fruit or concentration-that was easy-but good acidity. This walks down the middle of the road nicely. It seems as good as the last couple of years, maybe better. The winemaker says this may age ten years-it might. Let's be a little conservative now, though.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine comes from the Moncao and Melgaco region in the north of Vinho Verde, spiritual home of Alvarinho. It has all the richness associated with the grape, with a strong layer of minerality as well as a zesty texture. Apples and green plums come through the young acidity.
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.