2001 Chatêau Rauzan-Ségla
While there were no fireworks here, this was beautiful and quite “textbook” in its sense of place. Svelte, pure red fruit, pencil shavings, and an evident bellpepper note that was, nevertheless, a background hum to the fruit. Squarely in the zone, a delight to drink and an excellent performer at the table.
2019 Essência de Ventozelo Branco
A blend of 70% Viosinho and 30% Malvasia Fina, sourced from a 400 meter altitude parcel at Quinta de Ventozelo. The Viosinho and Malvasia were fermented separately, always in contact with the lees, first in stainless steel and then in oak. It was then aged in used 300 liter barrels for 8 months and in bottle for 5 years before being released this year.
This is a wine that stops time. Profound and rich, in an exuberant blend of smoky rockiness and honeyed propolis, what truly etches it in your memory is the Mahlerian fortissimo of its midpalate and the Brucknerian endlessness of its finish. It’s the first white edition of the Essência series from the Ventozelo, and already, in my opinion, one of the absolute great white wines of Portugal - as well as comically underpriced at less than 40€.
1996 UDACA Garrafeira
In the mid 1990s the Dão was woefully passé, still dominated by the old Estado Novo cooperatives and trailing behind a modernization process that was led by the Douro and Alentejo. I enjoyed this for the charmingly rustic testament of its time that it was: tannic and earthy, grippy yet not to a fault, straightforward in its savory aromatics, and correctly evolved. 15€ at current pricing.
2016 Elpenor Alfrocheiro
This is a gorgeous paean to the Dão of today - a civilized Alfrocheiro, a grape thought to be tough and dense, best used in blends with Touriga Nacional and Jaen. Silky and sophisticated, it carries the fingerprint and the memory of the region’s granite solares, the aromatics of its pine forests and wild, brambly berries, with a ripeness that is jovial yet understated. It is, ironically, more unabashedly Dão for lacking the region’s most famous grape, flamboyant-to-a-fault Touriga Nacional. The bottle behind it was a tasty, spritzy Max Ferdinand Richter Dry Riesling which had opened hostilities that evening.
