(2010) First year project, from a small parcel that every year for 10 years has been the best Alvarinho. Skin contact at 12 degrees and ageing six months in large oak barrels. Delightfully refined, supple, very refined with delicious fruit: lots of vivid citrus, yellow plum and big, grippy finish with a bit of tannin and lovely fresh acids.
(2010) Beautifully smoky, slightly mineral quality, with that ripe, pure lemon zest and bold pear-skin fruit. There's a hint of leafy green herbs, but really focused on the bold lemon fruit and that mineral edge. The palate has a delightful, very natural and unforced concentration. Delightful wine, with a little talcum edge but beautiful fruit, just a touch of residual sugar but that beautifully delineated finish.
(2010) Again, 100% Loureiro, for this wine fermented in used oak barriques. Has a little more openness and richness, more herbal notes too and has a richer, much oilier texture, with lots of grapefruit skin richness and tang, and plenty of lime and grapefruit brilliance to the flavour, the lovely acidity pushing through giving this real bite and length in the finish.
(2010) 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.
(2010) Grape Varieties: Alvarinho. Lovely big, leesy, grassy, bold and assertive nose, with lots of minerality and that bold lemony fruit. Gorgeous mouthful of fresh, tangy fruit.
(2010) Grape Varieties: Alvarinho. Very ripe, rich, peachy nose: a fuller style, but retaining that edge of salty minerality. The palate has huge intensity and concentration. There's a wonderfully vibrant gooseberry and grapefruit tang.
(2010) Aged on lees for one year with battonage, two years in total before release. "We use neutral yeasts to achieve primary fruit aromas - not ferment aromas." Complex, creamy nose with lime and green fruit, gently figgy notes. Palate is rich and complex, with lots of grip and grapefruity punch. Tangy, layered, with lots of flavour and textural complexity. Imported by Castas.
(2010) 30-year-old vines. Leafy, complex, very attractive nose with complex leafy green herb and wax aromas. The palate has glorious clarity, with very good intensity of fruit, staying pin-sharp and focused, with pear and apple skin grip and that acidity and refined fruit pushing through to a long finish.
(2010) A small proportion of this sees barrel fermentation. Very rich, ripe, slightly more buttery quality, notes of buttered cabbage and quite exotic fruit, but all with a fine, nervy twist of dill-like herbs and minerals. The palate has a slightly oxidised, bruised fruit quality, very Chenin-like with lots of layered personality and a big, dry, phenolic but balanced finish. Only 500 cases. Imported by Ince wines.
(2010) Absolutely fabulous stuff with lime and toast, all the phenolics have dissipated, the palate has exquisite minerality, with such refinement and harmony. Delicious, natural stuff that shows how this grape is capable of ageing.