Vinho Verde from the slopes of Melgaço
Albariño in Spain, Alvarinho across the Miño/Minho River in Portugal. Either way, it's the most favoured white grape variety in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. Its combination of steely acidity and stonefruit flavours lends itself to wines that are ripe and vigorous, and very often irresistible. On the Portuguese side of the border, Alvarinho also makes one of the best expressions of Vinho Verde ('green wine': the term is a reference to the verdant local countryside). The heartland of premium Vinho Verde is on the granitic soils and sunny slopes of Monção e Melgaço.
Historically, vines were planted here in a hodgepodge of varieties lining fields of other crops. But in 1974, João António Cerdeira decided to do something different; on the slopes above Melgaço, he planted a single vineyard exclusively to Alvarinho. He called it 'Soalheiro', meaning 'sunny', since the plot was exposed to the sun all day long. Half a century later, Soalheiro is a remarkably successful family business. The family have been trailblazers in Alvarinho, and they very often produce Portugal's best example of it.
At the core of their range, the 2021 Alvarinho is ripe and energetic, packed with notes of peach, lemongrass and jasmine. The Granit cuvee comes from high altitude vineyards and is very different, much more about lime and linearity, with a salty, mineral finish. And the Primeiras Vinhas cuvee comes from a selection of Soalheiro's oldest vines, some still pé franco, ungrafted. It is elegant and complex. /NT
