Luis Seabra Granito Cru Dao 2022 - 13%

From 35+ year old vines of Enruzado ~70%, Bical ~20% and Cercial ~10% located in granite soils (as the name might suggest...) and at relatively high altitude in th foothills of the Serra da Estrela Mountain Range.

Grapes are of course hand-harvested, destemmed and pressed to 500L used French oak barrels. After spontaneous fermentation the wine rests on lees with no batonnage for 1 year undergoing full malolactic transformation. The wine is then racked to stainless steel for a further 6 months before bottling.

Wild green herbs, peach and nectarine. Almond and white pepper. Lovely medium bodied white that is really rounded and charming.

In 2013, Luis Seabra left his gig as chief winemaker at Niepoort to do his own thing. He makes wines that tell the story of where they are from with minimal intervention. He works hard to let the wines show their site specific character. He uses a range of old vines from varying altitudes to create balance. The wines are discrete with startling clarity of place and purpose. There's little wonder that they are winning big plaudits all over the world.