Wine & Spirits - August 2019 - 52

YEAR'S BEST VINHOS VERDES
Our blind panels tasted 99 new-release Vinho Verdes over the past 12 months. Joshua Greene, our critic for Portuguese wines, rated 17
as exceptional (90+) and 10 as Best Buys. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

A LV A R I N H O
271373

95 | Quinta do Soalheiro

$28

2018 Monção e Melgaço Granit Mineral
Selection Alvarinho ^ Luís Cerdeira selects
the fruit for this wine from vines growing
above 1,300 feet in altitude, where the soil is
poor in nutrients and the vines sustain high
acidity in their grapes. He allows the fermentation to run warmer than in his other
alvarinhos, pointing up the granitic minerality in the grapes as it ages on the fine lees.
It's a bright wine with a smoky, dark mineral structure that keeps it brisk, the flavors
and scents layering cider apple, lavender
and green almond. "A sea urchin wine," said
W&S Tastings Editor Rachel DelRocco Terrazas. § Wine In-Motion USA, Newark, NJ
271941

93 | Anselmo Mendes

$20

2018 Vinho Verde Camaleão Alvarinho ^
Concentrated in its brash youthfulness, this
wine's pithy acidity heightens the flavors of
quince and tangerine. It grows more voluptuous with air, mineral edges supporting the
depth of fruit with tension and energy. You
could enjoy this now, but it will be better next
year. § Saranty Imports, Stamford, CT
271388

92 | Anselmo Mendes

$40

2017 Vinho Verde Expressões ^ This is
Anselmo Mendes's top selection of alvarinho,
which he ferments in used 400-liter French
oak barrels, then leaves it there to age for
nine months with all its lees. That time in
neutral oak builds the pale, unctuous peach
richness of the wine without diminishing its
clarity. The wine is built to age; if you open it
now, decant it, and the crunchier aspects of
the fruit will come forward, floral and spicy,
52

WINE & SPIRITS

92 | Quinta do Soalheiro

$20

2018 Monção e Melgaço Alvarinho ^ This is a
fragrant alvarinho with scents of spiced pear
and chamomile. Its pale and juicy flavors of
nectarine and salted grapefruit are tight and
clean, suited to several years of development
in the bottle, or to decanting now with crab. §
Wine In-Motion USA, Newark, NJ

$20

2018 Monção e Melgaço Contacto Alva-
rinho ^ Anselmo Mendes selects fruit from
vines planted in pebbly soils close to the
Minho River for this wine. He destems the
grapes, then allows the juice a short maceration with the skins, creating a smoky, pale
strawberry depth of flavor in this brisk, cool
2018. The rich fruit has rainwater clarity and
clean tension that lengthens its fragrance.
This will evolve toward complexity with bottle age. § Grape2Glass, Newark, NJ
272231

92 | João Cabral Almeida

for a meaty roast game fish. § Aidil Wines &
Liquors, Newark, NJ
271303

AUGUST 2019

272355

91 | Aveleda

$12

2018 Vinho Verde Alvarinho (Best Buy) ^
This youthful alvarinho feels supple and
round, fattened up by the fruit richness of
cantaloupe and kumquats. Granitic acidity tightens it up, lifting the fragrant fruit
through a clean finish. This wine's drinking
window will begin to open a year from now,
or sooner, if you decant it. § Aveleda, Pawtucket, RI
271460

90 | Anselmo Mendes

$22

90 | MQ Vinhos

$20

2018 Vinho Verde Muros Antigos Alva-
rinho ^ Give this wine plenty of air and it
opens from pale scents of wheat toward
green pear and bright herbal notes. There's
a salty coastal buzz to its acidity, setting
the wine up for sausage-stuffed squid. § Aidil
Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ
270998
2017 Monção & Melgaço Vale dos Ares
Alvarinho ^ Miguel Queimado renovated part
of the vineyards and the cellars at the Quinta
do Mato, a property in his family since 1683,
then worked with Gabriela Albuquerque to

launch his first vintage in 2013. His 2017 is
tight and formidably structured, with apple
flesh and bitter almond-skin notes. That
tonic bitterness rides on top of coastal freshness, lasting on lime zest flavor. For prawns
in garlic. § Diniz Cellars, Burbank, CA

VINHO VERDE
271987

92 | Cazas Novas

$18

91 | Quinta da Lixa

$10

91 | Quinta da Raza

$17

90 | Aphros

$25

2017 Vinho Verde Avesso ^ This grows at
Quinta de Guimaraes, a 17th-century manor
close to the Douro River, in the far-eastern
reaches of the Vinho Verde district, near
Regua. Carlos Coutinho, representing his
family's seventh generation at the property,
set out to develop a white wine in 2010, partnering with Diogo Lopes and Vasco Magalhães; they focused on avesso. Their 2017 is
an intriguing white, broad and luscious, with
pale peach-skin tannins and a lasting smokiness. That smokiness and the accompanying mouthwatering acidity bring to mind the
scent of rock hitting rock. It's a rich wine for
Thai green curry, or whole smoked trout with
sauce gribiche. § Soilair Selection, NY
271896
2018 Vinho Verde Terras do Minho Lou-
reiro Trajadura Arinto (Best Buy) ^ Clean
and fresh, with crisp green-pear flavors, this
has an oceanic acidity that keeps it taut. It's
savory and firm, with a white-grapefruit note
that will add zest to any roast fish. § Grape2Glass, Newark, NJ
271273
2018 Vinho Verde Alvarinho-Trajadura ^
This blend of alvarinho and trajadura buzzes
with a green spice, somewhere between wasabi and fresh-pressed olive oil. The crunchy
acidity of green grapes cools it off, targeting the wine at sashimi. § Regal Wine Imports,
Moorestown, NJ
271029
2017 Vinho Verde Phaunus-Loureiro ^ From
Vasco Croft's biodynamic vineyards in Lima,
this loureiro ferments spontaneously in beeswax-lined amphorae, developing its floral
spice along with some natty-wine/lambicbeer notes through skin contact and aging
http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com https://www.aveleda.com/en
Wine & Spirits - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2019
