Winemaker Notes
Primeiras Vinhas has a bright lemon to golden-yellow color and a concentrated ripe fruit aroma with buttery notes and plenty of spice. It boasts an elegant, vibrant flavor that is very firm and tropical tasting in its youth and gets bigger with ageing. Its full body perfectly balances with a crisp acidity. These complexities are due to the early ripening of the Alvarinho on the suntrap, nicknamed 'Soalheiro,' where their first vineyard is located.
The wine made from the oldest vines features lively acidity with added complexity from the barrel, making it a versatile match for many plates. It pairs well with seafood, all kinds of fish, poultry dishes, mature cheeses, smoked meats, or Asian and Mediterranean gastronomies.
Vegan-Friendly
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2024 Primeiras Vinhas was produced with Alvarinho from the first family vineyard they planted in 1974. The whole clusters were pressed softly, and the juice fermented with indigenous yeasts mostly (85%) in stainless steel, used barriques and a 5,000-liter oak vat and 2,000-liter oak foudres, without malolactic and with extended contact with the fine lees. I love the purity and crystalline character of this cuvée. It's still young and undeveloped, with the baby fat that needs to be rendered out by some time in bottle. But it shows incipient complexity, slowly unfurling layers of aromas and a serious, dry and chalky palate. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.17 and 6.9 grams of acidity.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine, with its tropical fruit aroma, is rich and finely textured. It has a hazelnut and citrus flavor that gives the wine both freshness and ripeness. Drink the wine from 2026. Suitable for vegans.
Editors' Choice
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.