It’s been a few years since I last tried this wine and I probably would not have done so had it not been for the BLiP exhibition last weekend.
One of the exhibitors had bought a couple of boxes from a wine distributor who also had a stand and was generously plying friends and customers with a glass or three!
I remembered this wine as being more heavily oaked from previous vintages but this 2012 is a good example of careful oak work resulting in a wine that is complex on the nose and unctuous in the mouth, without those toast and vanilla notes from new oak that I often find unpleasant.
Unusually for a Douro white, the grapes are Semillon and Terrantez grown on low yielding granite soil vineyards in the Douro valley. Half of the wine is fermented in stainless steel at low temperature whilst the other half ferments with battonage in a combination of used and new French oak barrels.
The 2012 vintage currently on the market is already showing some good signs of bottle ageing with a pale straw yellow colour and aromas of honeysuckle and ripe tropical fruits. I bought a few bottles myself at BLiP, at a bargain price of around €9 straight from the distributor, but in supermarkets expect to pay around €14 or €15.
By PATRICK STUART patrick.stuart @open-media.net
