Winemaker Notes
Floral and fruit citrusy notes are apparent in an overall elegant and delicate aromatic profile. The palate reveals fresh and aromatic notes with a great balance between flavors, with a long and mineral finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The unoaked white 2022 Dócil is a Loureiro from the Vinho Verde region. It's a varietal wine with the idea to produce something like a Kabinett trocken fermented with indigenous yeasts, a slow fermentation, unoaked and with a little residual sugar to compensate the acidity. This one is quite dry (the 2024 is a little sweeter). It was a very warm and dry year. The wine reached 11.5% alcohol, and it has a naked character. For Dirk Niepoort, Loureiro is the most interesting grape in Vinho Verde; if overcropped, the wine can be very thin, but if you control yields, it can be characterful, herbal, not unlike a Riesling, with more acidity than an Alvarinho, with potential to age. This wine has a darker color and a more developed nose with hints of honey and caramel, denoting a warmer year. Rating: 91+
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
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.