Winemaker Notes
Nortico Alvarinho is a tribute to the artisan grape growers and tile makers of northern Portugal. This wine showcases the Alvarinho grape, capturing the taste of coastal Portugal in every sip. It's a "farm-to-table" wine, sourced from old vines planted near the Minho River, located in the villages of Monção and Melgaço. These subregions are enclosed in a semi-circle of hills that protect it from the Atlantic winds, providing cold, rainy winters and hot, dry summers — ideal for producing wines of great quality. The label design pays tribute to the region's rich tradition of local craftsmanship, drawing inspiration from the hand-painted "azulejos" or tiles that grace the buildings throughout this area. Crafted by winemaker Alberto Orte, Nortico is sourced from over 100 small vineyard plots, offering a beautiful expression of the land's distinctive character, and featuring notes of fresh citrus, peach, and saline minerality.
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.
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.