Doa

Louro is the Atlantic coastal name for the Laurel, or Bay tree. Loureiro wines are floral and smell deeply of lemon and bay. The basic characteristic is a linear, racy and acidic wine with low levels of both grape sugar and phenolic material. After careful viticulture, winemaking is simple and tech-driven: low-cropped old vines are sorted twice (firstly to eliminate disease, then further selected for quality); whole grapes undergo penumatic pressing; must is cold-settled for 48 hours; a quite cool fermentation (max 15 degrees) takes place in stainless steel vats for 12-15 days; the wine is matured for 6 months in stainless steel.

Over the past decade, organic and biodynamic viticulture has progressively added a deeper, richer, fragrant bay leaf character to the lemony precision of Pedro's outstanding crunch-yet-textured Loureiro white.

Touriga Nacional 40%, Aragonez 30%, Alicante Bouschet 20% and Trincadeira 10% are manually harvested in 12kg crates. It’s named after a local nun, whatever. At the winery, grapes are sorted, fully destemmed and gently crushed. After a period of cold maceration, fermentation takes place in small stainless steel tanks at 24°C, and the wines ages 6 months in French oak.

Deep ruby colour. Mace spice relieves the vanilla and black cherry density you expect here. Fluid, with good presence, but balanced without any sense of heftiness. Soft, dry, shapely, with nice structure, fresh, clean and great value. The wine has a lovely order: earthen-floral smells of the place gain skins, then fruit richness flowing along a tannin-leather thread, then tapering to finish acid-fresh and lovely.

The sub-zone Monção e Melgaço is inland from Portugal’s North Atlantic coast, and with a very specific microclimate, expressing less Atlanticity than the wines of the rest of the region. The wines from here have Vinho Verde’s typical freshness and minerality, but more body and flavour. 50:50 Alvarinho-Trajadura (pronounced Trajah- doo-rah; aka Albariño and Treixadura if we were in Spain) from granitic soils. Grapes are hand harvested and transported to the winery in small crates, where bunches are destemmed, followed by a short 4 hour maceration, and a slow fermentation of 15 days in small stainless tanks.

On the surface, ripe crab-apple, nashi pear, greengage and cress. Below the surface, jasmine, sage, cardamom and curry leaf give depth, charm and interest. Grassy fresh-tilled green herbs, and a touch of nutty roundness on both nose and palate and yellow sandy depth. For a light wine it has good depth and a nice pocket of roundness early, before easing to mineral-herbal line out back. It has a smooth gliding texture from the Trajadura, and a sweet-and sour grapefruit acid finish, giving the wine swing and zing.