Winemaker Notes
Exuberant nose with citrus and oral aromas. Light scent of owers with white
petals such as jasmine. The palate is elegant and light, with a crispy and round acidity. Long and vibrant finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
They made a "skin contact" Loureiro for the first time in 2024. The 2024 Contacto Loureiro is also a joint venture with the Symington family, along with the Alvarinho. It comes from a single estate, Quinta da Ferreira in Ponte de Lima, at 200 meters above sea level, with a slope and more inland, in the valley, some 25 kilometers from the sea, with good drainage, where they make their best Loureiro wines. Here, we're also talking about very brief skin contact, short and cool (12 hours at 12 degrees Celsius), which has a subtle effect on the wine, but there's more intensity and complexity here.
Dating back to the late 18th century, Loureiro is native to Iberian Peninsula, grown mostly within the Minho region, though has flourished currently into neighboring Galicia. It produces a dry, high-toned, crisp white wine, redolent with aromas of white flowers and bay leaves. The grape is essential to the production of Portugeuse Vinho Verde and white blends of the Spanish region Rias Baixas. Somm Secret—The word Loureiro means “laurel” in Portugeuse, conveying the wine’s bay leaf aromatics.
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.