Most people that are familiar with Portuguese Vinho Verde see it as a delightful but typically simple quaff to accompany appropriate seafood preparations.\u00a0 But not all Vinho Verdes are created equal.\u00a0 Some producers take the wine a bit more seriously.\u00a0 Soalheiro has been a favorite of ours for a long time because, well, there\u2019s just more to it as a rule.\u00a0 They make more than one expression of the genre, but our usual favorite is the one made from straight Alvarinho (the Portuguese name for Albarino).\u00a0 Yeah, it costs a little more than your typical \u2018$10 or less\u2019 versions, but there\u2019s much more going on in the glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we had never seen before is this <\/em>version, Soalheiro Alvarinho Vinho Verde Primeiras Vinhas 2019<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 The story is that Soalheiro was a pioneer in the creation of Alvarinho wine in Melga\u00e7o. In the nineteen seventies (1974 to be exact), a passion for winemaking led Jo\u00e3o Ant\u00f3nio Cerdeira, with the support of his father, Ant\u00f3nio Esteves Ferreira, to plant the first Alvarinho vines and to create the first brand of Alvarinho in Melga\u00e7o in 1982, and one of the first Alvarinho brands in the sub-region of Mon\u00e7\u00e3o and Melga\u00e7o.\u00a0 This area is located in northern Portugal, not terribly far south of Spain\u2019s Raixas Bias region where Albarino thrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This particular bottling, which is grown organically and harvested by hand, comes from those original Alvarinho vines planted some 40 years ago (\u2018primeras vinhas\u2019 means \u2018first vines\u2019).\u00a0 It also got a significant and rather exapnsive review from Decanter Magazine, \u201cWith two wines in our top 50 ‘Best In Show’of a great grape variety, though, resembles that of a great actor: the ability to subsume its own personality inside that of the place (or the character) it is representing or portraying. Compare this (our first ever Best In Show Vinho Verde) with its Galician peer, and you will see a clear difference. This Portuguese wine is much quieter aromatically — but haunting and tenacious, with hints of linden blossom and wet stone. It\u2019s concentrated, cool, sheer, tongue-freshening \u2026 yet tenacious once again, with the presence and force of character which typifies its Moncao e Melgaco origins. That impression of a cool, wet granite landscape somehow conveyed by the wine lingers all the way through the long finish. .. 97 Points<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can bet this wine would have been an email for us given the wine\u2019s remarkable expression in the glass, review and price ($26.98). Simply put, there wasn\u2019t enough juice for that. Limited, grab this striking white while you can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most people that are familiar with Portuguese Vinho Verde see it as a delightful but typically simple quaff to accompany appropriate seafood preparations.\u00a0 But not all Vinho Verdes are created equal.\u00a0 Some producers take the wine a bit more seriously.\u00a0 Soalheiro has been a favorite of ours for a long time because, well, there\u2019s just … Continue reading “BEYOND VINHO VERDE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40],"tags":[699,510,512,131,511],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4109,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108\/revisions\/4109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}