portfolio ➜ origin

Portugal

Categories: White Wine, Red Wine, Carcavelos, Madeira

Sitting on the far western flank of the Iberian peninsula, and thus of Europe, Portugal simultaneously resides at the center and at the periphery of European wine culture: Its stands of Q. suber (cork oak) supply nearly all of the world’s natural cork stoppers—essential for fine wine—while, beyond Port, Portugal's own wines have been little known or understood beyond its borders. This is despite the fact that, owing to Portuguese exploration and trade, its wines were for centuries the world's most widely distributed. Indeed, it was the very reach of that global trade that informed the style of wine most associated with Portugal—Vinho Generoso: strong fortified wines, typically oxidative in character, able to withstand the rigors of trade under the mast. Today, there is a newfound appreciation of these wines beyond Port, especially those from Madeira and Carcavelos, while emerging table wine appellations like Bucelas, Vinho Verde and Douro suggest that Portugal is gaining renewed prominence in the wine world.

White Wine

Chão do Prado Bucelas 2020

Portugal ➜ Lisboa VR ➜ Bucelas DOC 12.5% ABV

12.5% ABV

This signature white wine is classic Bucelas, native home of Arinto, perhaps Portugal's greatest white wine variety. Here on the calcareous marl, loam and limestone soils locals call ‘caeiras’, Arinto absorbs the maritime influence of the nearby Atlantic, producing age-worthy wines of great vitality and savory mineral depths. Full details

Murgas Bucelas 2018

Portugal ➜ Lisboa VR ➜ Bucelas DOC 12.5% ABV

12.5% ABV

Murgas Bucelas highlights Arinto, one of Portugal'a oldest and most historic grape varieties. In the village of Frexial, twenty kilometers north of Lisbon, the Franca family farms old-vine Arinto organically from rocky calcereous marls known as 'caeiras'. Fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel tank (80%) and third-pass 350L French oak, its elevage likewise continues until bottling, resulting in a wine of great vitality and sapidity, its notes of grilled white peach and beeswax marked by the vibrant minerality for which Bucelas is renowned. Its lively character makes it a refreshing complement to all manner of fish and seafood, chicken and pork. It can be enjoyed now through 2035. Full details

Quinta do Avelar Bucelas 2015

Portugal ➜ Lisboa VR ➜ Bucelas DOC 12.5% ABV

12.5% ABV

Bottled in mid-2022 after an extended, seven-year elevage, this stunning wine stands an exemplar of the once common but now exceedingly rare tradition of long-aged Bucelas. Hand-harvested from the traditional calcario soils that flank the Trancão river as it bisects the Bucelas appellation, Arinto and Rabo de Ovelha are fermented with native yeasts in steel tank and the wine undergoes its lengthy elevage on the lees. A small quantity of Sercial (Esgana Cão) is fermented separately, in tank and in ancient barrels, before final blending and bottling. Full details

Red Wine

Murgas Touriga Franca 2019

Portugal ➜ Lisboa VR 13.5% ABV

13.5% ABV

Murgas Touriga Franca DOC Lisboa is made from the grapes of the Arneiro vineyard, in Bucelas, in calcareous soils on a slope exposed to the west. Ruby in color, it shows aromas of raspberries and fresh currants, wrapped in notes of pink pepper and woodsy mushrooms. The mouth is enveloping, with very soft but structuring tannins. It ends long and very serious, bringing together the attributes of the great red wines of the region. Full details

Carcavelos

Villa Oeiras Carcavelos Tinto 10-Year Old

Portugal ➜ Lisboa VR ➜ Carcavelos DOC 19.0% ABV

19.0% ABV • Fortified, Oxidative

The first ever Carcavelos Tinto imported to the US, this exhilarating wine comes from Portugal's smallest appellation, just west of Lisbon along the Tejo estuary as it opens out to the Atlantic. A terrific alternative to Tawny Port, it is produced from small, calcareous seaside vineyards highlighting local varieties Castelão and Trincadeira. Full details

Villa Oeiras Carcavelos Tinto 10-Year Old label

Villa Oeiras Carcavelos 'Nacional' 12-Year Old

Portugal ➜ Lisboa VR ➜ Carcavelos DOC 18.5% ABV

18.5% ABV • Fortified, Oxidative

Villa Oerias Carcavelos 'Nactional' 12-Year Old is Carcavelos as it might have been when it was first produced by the Marquis do Pombal in the mid-18th century. Aged exclusively in Portuguese ('Nacional') oak, which lends a pleasingly rusticity and generosity of spirit, it is the first such expression of Carcavelos in more than half a century. Full details

Villa Oeiras Carcavelos 'Nacional' 12-Year Old label

Villa Oeiras Carcavelos 15-Year Old

Portugal ➜ Lisboa VR ➜ Carcavelos DOC 19.0% ABV

19.0% ABV • Fortified, Oxidative

Benchmark of the appellation, Portugal's most diminutive and one of the smallest in Europe, Villa Oeiras Carcavelos 15-Year Old was the first Carcavelos imported to the US in many decades. Full details