(2018) From the prime regions of Monção and Melgaço in the north of Vinho Verde country, this is Alvarinho, or Albariño as it's known just across the border in Spain. Pale green in colour, it has a crunchy apple freshness and a faint hint of salty sea breezes. In the mouth, a delightfully fresh and biting blast of citrus and apple is backed up with just a suggestion of creaminess and more texture than most Vinho Verde. Watch the video for more information and food matching ideas, and see our review of more wines in Lidl's summer Wine Tour 2018.
(2014) Only 11.5 abv, this is a blend of 60% Alvarinho and 40% Trajedura with a lovely hint of waxiness and Riesling-like lift and apple. The palate is clean and fresh, but has that rounding waxy hint against the plentiful lime and lemon acidity. Fresh as a daisy and truly delicious for summer drinking.
(2014) The smokiness and grip of the skin contact here is gorgeous, very Riesling-like again for some reason, and pungent and powerful. The palate is packed with lemon and orange flavours, with a delicious lick of mid-palate sweetness or more accurately, fruit juiciness, before a bone-dry finish.
(2012) One of the new wave of single varietal Vinho Verde wines, this is 100% Alvarinho (Spains's Albariño). Only two sub-regions are allowed to bottle single varietal Alvarinho, Melgaco and Monçõo, both hugging the Spanish border with Galicia. This with its modest 12.5% alcohol seemed just a little dull on this showing. It is full-textured and ripe, with some peachy fruit on the mid palate and a big blast of pithy citrus on the finish, but perhaps lacking the vital spark of the best examples on this showing.
(2012) In many ways simpler, with a clear citrus character, cool orchard fruits too. On the palate tangy and spritzy: very vivavcious, very sherbetty and cool with the lovely fruit flooding the mouth. Classic in style, and very juicy and vital.
(2011) With 11% alcohol, this is mostly Loureiro with 15% Arinto, which Pedro thinks will help it age. This has a beautifully delicate nose with light, fresh, very mineral aromas and just a touch of lime peel richness in the background. Beautiful palate with terrific finesse and lovely bite and juicy clarity. Stocked in The Greenhouse and many other top restaurants.
(2011) (Tasted July 2010)Loureiro fermented in used oak barriques - Pedro was first to do this in 2000 for this wine. Has a little more richness than the Loureiro, more herbal notes too and has a richer, much oilier texture, with lots of grapefruit skin richness and tang, and plenty of acidity pushing through giving this real bite and lovely length in the finish.
(2011) Beautifully fresh with mealiness and pear fruit, touches of lemon rind and pear skin those talcum touches. There's a saline tang of minerality on the palate and lots of pure, long, limey fruit. Anselmo Mendes is consultant here, and Pedro thinks they now have the vines in perfect balance.
(2011) Deep colour but still green. Beautifully fruity nose, with lots of limes and wax, very Riesling-like. Little herby notes, but the fruit is ripe and orangy, with lots of flesh and a sweetness, the clarity and precision of the acidity and fruit still perfectly pitched.
(2011) Alvarinho, Avesso and Chardonnay. This is the current vintage on the market, which João keeps for six years before releasing. A real waxiness, and some oxidation, with big, dry, parcel string charterer, like a maturing Semillon. There is a lovely acidity in the finish of this, playing against that waxy texture. Unusual, complex, with a slightly phenolic character.
