Search results for: 'paraje de chenin'

From the importer:

After years working alongside some of Portugal’s most gifted winemakers and with many New World growers, Alexandre “Alex” Guedes—voted in 2025 as one of the country’s top five new winegrowers—joined Quinta da San Michel in 2018 after his first harvest at the estate, where he unexpectedly met his future bride. Under Alex’s steady, inquisitive hand, and guided by the disciplined mind of a winemaker nearing his Master of Wine, Quinta da San Michel is poised to become one of the most promising voices in Portugal’s Atlantic wine frontier. Their vineyards span two striking terrains: Janas, between the Sintra Mountains and the Atlantic and new plantings on the legendary sandy soils of Colares—some on the valley floor in meters-deep sands, others above coastal bluffs on calcareous sands and limestone bedrock facing the ocean’s salt-rich winds. San Michel is focused on historic local varieties, like Malvasia de Colares, Arinto, and Galego Dourado, and soon joined by the infamous red Ramisco, each deeply tied to this mythical viticultural coastline. Their wines from clay and limestone echo the great vineyards of France’s Côte d’Or but carry a maritime salty freshness and stout, architectural structure, while those from sand promise wines of delicate filigree, resurrecting the past glories of Colares where Malvasia and Ramisco have thrived ungrafted for centuries.

Galego Dourado, the newcomer, was planted in 2020 on a 0.3-hectare soft slope. It’s direct-pressed and fermented in steel, then given a brief six-month rest on lees in a well-seasoned six-year-old 228-liter French oak barrel. This approach captures the variety’s freshness while allowing a slow, quiet layering of texture.

94 Points! The purity of fruit to this young second wine are very impressive with blueberry and blackberry character. Citrus undertones. Medium to full body and a bright finish. Drink in 2021. - JamesSuckling.com

This cuvée is a selection of Nebbiolo from the younger vines of the various “cru” in Barbaresco supplemented by grapes from the neighboring village of Neive.  The average age of the vines is 30 years.  The wine is fermented in stainless steel for 10 days to 2 weeks and then is refined in large oak barrels for an additional year before being bottled.  An astonishing value … as are all of the fine wines from this remarkable estate.

93 Points! Elegant, refreshing and harmonious, with a lacy mousse and notes of apricot, lime peel, quince and biscuit. Well-honed by chiseled acidity, this expands nicely through the mineral-driven finish. Drink now through 2029. - Wine Spectator

97 Points! A beautifully proportioned Marsannay with Grand Cru-type concentration and fineness of tannins. Very dark core, then a very long, polished finish. - JamesSuckling.com

• Practicing organic
• 100% Pinot Noir
• Grapes from all of Mortet’s holdings in Gevrey-Chambertin (village + 1er Cru + Grand Cru)
• Direct press rosé
• Indigenous yeast
• Fermented and aged in stainless steel

93 Points! A graceful Champagne, with fine length and focus. There’s a creamy plushness to the finely detailed mousse, which carries flavors of baked white cherry, poached apricot, candied lemon peel, brioche and ginger as they expand on the palate and through the well-cut, lasting finish. Drink now through 2035. - Wine Spectator

99 Points! Superb aromas of black currants, rose petal and mint. Lavender and stones too. Full body with incredible fruit density. Complex, yet it's agile and bright. Tannins are perfectly polished. It builds on the palate and shows the structure of a first growth Bordeaux but remains so Chilean. A blend of 58% cabernet sauvignon, 15% carmenere, 12% malbec, 10% merlot, and 5% petit verdot. From biodynamically grown grapes. This is a joy to taste now but it will show itself in 2019. Even better than the amazing 2012. - JamesSuckling.com

A blend of Malbec, Cinsault, Syrah and Merlot aged in French oak for 10 months.

Saignée of Pinot Noir. Meticulously crafted from Pinot Noir sourced from Hyde Vineyard.