{"title":"Portugal","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"e20","title":"Filipa Pato Nossa Calcario Baga","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40830907941054,"sku":"","price":33.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_951ed2cb-b10a-4e48-a1b3-d09cf1cd026e.png?v=1631719034"},{"product_id":"casa-do-valle-grande-escolha-2019","title":"Casa do Valle Grande Escolha","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"2021","offer_id":40818949652670,"sku":"","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_c6e40998-b1d2-4b4d-a398-8bb53660fb73.png?v=1634255537"},{"product_id":"quinto-do-infantado-porto-ruby","title":"Quinta do Infantado Porto Ruby","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42279185744105,"sku":"613D","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_0d2485b2-b872-4f1d-8418-9ec9b5b819bb.png?v=1635347210"},{"product_id":"quinta-do-infantado-porto-tawny","title":"Quinta do Infantado Porto Tawny","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42279185973481,"sku":"","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_50f1725d-dc71-47a8-ab5b-bbc7ec843be7.png?v=1635347396"},{"product_id":"quinta-do-infantado-vontage-porto-2015","title":"Quinta do Infantado Vintage Port","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"750 ml","offer_id":44200187494633,"sku":"114B","price":62.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"375 ml","offer_id":44200187461865,"sku":"","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_c8ed6488-55c8-4826-9c62-2fd31d2e4045.png?v=1635444006"},{"product_id":"kopke-colheita","title":"Kopke Colheita 2013 vintage to 1941","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"2013 - 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So a couple of seminars ago and a whole lot of wine later—plus a bit more research on top of that—I came to this producer. In other words, I spent a good amount of energy finding this beauty. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI can’t resist adding history into wine tasting notes, so here goes. Under the Franco years, the only wineries that were allowed to exist were ones that A) were loyal to the Franco government; and B) glorified Portugal via exported products. One result of this is you get little family plots of vineyards, where the wine was essentially homemade and kept at home, because they weren’t allowed to commercialize production. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTo my understanding, the Rocim estate started this way, and it was eventually purchased by a Portuguese agricultural machinery magnate whose daughter eventually inherited it as a winemaker. A few years later, along comes a viticulturist who does the proper thing - by marrying the owner's daughter, he creates a partnership in winemaking and life. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI love this wine for its rich and warm, spicy fruits, which inspires imaginations of the gorgeous views of Portugal’s countryside. S\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eome\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e old-school Portuguese reds were full and sometimes even jammy on the palate, but this one has beautiful lifted aromatics, a sense of delicacy in its richness, and poise and balance on the finish. If you drink it slowly, it will unwind and draw you into an bewitchingly complex experience. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42599729758441,"sku":"P68350","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-2012.png?v=1756497398"},{"product_id":"filipa-pato-d-n-m-c-bical","title":"Filipa Pato DNMC Bical","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43422519099625,"sku":"","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"casa-do-valle-homenagem-rosso","title":"Casa do Valle Homenagem Rosso Reserva","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48091655471337,"sku":"","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"the-rare-wine-company-historic-series-madeira-boston-bual","title":"The Rare Wine Company Historic Series Madeira \"Boston Bual\"","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42806092923113,"sku":"","price":66.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-9548.png?v=1728408983"},{"product_id":"muxagat-douro-branco-os-xistos-altos","title":"Muxagat Douro Branco Os Xistos Altos","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWe’re all subject to prejudices, aren’t we? We all judge unfairly. And we all suffer because we do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMy life as a wine merchant tells me people judge wines unfairly. All of us have wine prejudices. And one of their victims is white wine from Portugal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhat if I were to tell you, I’ve got a Loire Valley Chenin Blanc with sensuous body and texture? Or what if I were to say, I’ve got a Rhone Valley white with intoxicating aromas of orchard blossoms and flavors of sweet summer melons? Or a Mediterranean white with a salty, smoky minerality? And then, what if I were to reveal to you that all of those qualities belong to a white wine from Portugal? Wouldn’t you want to taste it for yourself?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThat white wine is the 2019 Muxagat Vinhos Douro Blanco. And I swear to you, it’s as delicious as I say it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTwenty years ago, Mateus Nicolau de Almeida and Eduardo Lopes began a garage winery in the tiny village of Muxagata. They called the winery Muxagat Vinhos. A year later, they moved Muxagat to an old winery with sparkling granite walls in the village of Meda. They acquired vineyards in the dry, high-altitude Douro sub-region of the Douro Superior. The vineyards they acquired are at an altitude of 1,970 feet, on steep slopes, with schist soils, in an exacting climate which concentrates yields.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eToday, Luis Seabra, Susana Lopes, and Ana Sofia Silva, the inheritors of Mateus and Edurado’s vineyards and winery, grow the grapes and vinify the wines of Muxagat minimalistically. They farm their vineyards biodynamically, harvest their grapes by hand, and make their wines simply, using tried and true Portuguese techniques, like foot-trodding grapes in granite lagares, and aging their juice in concrete, amphora, and old oak barrels.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe 2020 Muxagat Vinhos Douro Blanco is a field blend of indigenous varietals: mostly Rabigato, along with Arinto and Gouveio. The grapes arrive at the winery in 20 kilogram boxes and cool for 12 hours at 50 degrees. The next day, the grapes are sorted by hand and crushed with their stems in a vertical press. The must settles in underground stainless steel tanks for 12 hours, then ferments with indigenous yeast. The wine ages on fine lees in old French oak barrels for nine months.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMuxagat Vinhos Douro Blanco pours bright gold into your glass and meets you with aromas of wild spring flowers, orchard blossoms, ripe Cantaloupe, and smoky, wet stones. On your palate, the wine is ample, with a fresh citrus acidity, and flavors of Forelle pears, Honeydew, and raw almonds. The wine is concentrated, complex, and long. And that slightly salty minerality? That’s the defining character of the Rabigato grape. The lees and oak aging judiciously amplify the wine’s round body and fine structure. From beginning to end, this wine is a joy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhen you drink a glass of this 2019 Muxagat Vinhos Douro Blanco, you’ll ask yourself, Why would anybody prejudge this wine? And then you’ll ask yourself, How could anybody say this wine isn’t truly great? And then you won’t ever prejudge another wine again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43033160581353,"sku":"465102","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_7ff7a348-0f62-457b-8eb7-a9c2ee264d67.png?v=1657657641"},{"product_id":"muxagat-douro-branco","title":"Muxagat Douro Branco 2023","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43116389531881,"sku":"465101","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_717fd119-fc48-4430-ae58-b87c09e59024.png?v=1657571353"},{"product_id":"dao-textura-da-estrela-branco","title":"Textura da Estrela Branco","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43579320238313,"sku":"465303","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_5fee35bb-e9b0-4427-825f-cc6dd22ddf41.png?v=1657657889"},{"product_id":"textura-dao-pretexto","title":"Textura Pretexto Dao Tinto","description":"There are second acts in life that feel incremental, and then there are those that require a clean break, a leap across continents, careers and certainties. Marcelo Araujo’s journey to the Dão belongs to the latter. After moving his family from Brazil to Portugal, he left a successful career in investment management to begin again, drawn not by spreadsheets but by granite soils, mountain light and the steady appeal of Portugal’s interior. When Textura released its first vintage in 2018, it wasn’t a side project. It was a full commitment, hands in the soil, decisions made parcel by parcel, detail by detail. Marcelo chose the Dão deliberately. Nestled against the Serra da Estrela, Portugal’s tallest inland mountain range, the region offers an elegant tension: warm, dry summers moderated by altitude and cooling mountain air; decomposed granite soils that drain freely yet hold nuance; native grape varieties capable of perfume and structure rather than sheer weight. The Dão has become a quiet magnet for some of Portugal’s most thoughtful growers, precisely because it can show place clearly in the glass. Marcelo saw that clarity as both opportunity and responsibility. Textura’s winery, housed in the bones of a former textile factory, is a nod to the region’s industrial past, while its vineyards chart the agricultural future. Investment went heavily into organic farming, careful parcel study, and the ability to vinify each plot separately. This approach makes room to track differences in exposure, elevation and vine age, and to translate those distinctions into wines with minimal interference. Winemaking is directed by Mariana Salvador, with Luís Seabra consulting, a pairing that brings precision and a broader commitment to transparency and site. The 2021 Textura Pretexto Tinto reads like the distilled result of that curiosity. It opens not with bombast but with lift, red currant and wild blackberry alongside crushed violet and a faint floral note suggestive of mountain air. Beneath the fruit, granite minerality runs through the wine: iron filings, wet stone and a suggestion of graphite. There’s cracked black pepper, dried bay leaf and a savory flicker of rosemary and thyme. A subtle trace of cocao nib and cedar points to elevage, integrated rather than declared. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied and tensile, its acidity bright and linear, pulling the fruit across a fine-grained tannic frame. Black plum and sour cherry move into more savory tones, black olive, espresso crema and a gentle bitter edge reminiscent of cocoa husk that keeps the finish dry and focused. There’s an earthy undertow too, like freshly turned soil after rain, and a quiet herbal note that reinforces the sense of altitude and restraint. This is Dão as it is increasingly meant to be understood: not a region of excess but of balance. The mountain influence keeps the wine lifted, the granite gives it spine and the native varieties provide aromatic complexity without heaviness. It reads structured, stony and persistent, a bottle best appreciated for detail rather than impact. At the table, it shines alongside food. Grilled lamb rubbed with garlic and thyme echoes its herbal core. Roasted mushrooms and lentils draw out its earthy nuance. Even a simple board of aged sheep’s milk cheese and olives gives its mineral line room to show. Pretexto may be the “pretext,” but nothing about it reads as preliminary. It’s an early chapter of a long-term vision, a family’s relocation, a deliberate bet on the Dão’s future and a commitment to presenting granite, altitude and native grapes without distortion. Give it a little air and the result is clear: cool evenings, mountain light and a new beginning rooted firmly in old soil.","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43116409127145,"sku":"465302","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-2989.png?v=1772482546"},{"product_id":"felipe-ferreira-douro-mary-taylor-selection","title":"Lucia Ferreira Douro Mary Taylor Selection Branco","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44458727932137,"sku":"","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"filipa-pato-3b-blanc-de-blancs","title":"Filipa Pato 3B Blanc de Blancs","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43422488821993,"sku":"","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"filipa-pato-dnmc-baga","title":"Filipa Pato DNMC Baga 2023","description":"\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOne grape, one region, one family — and two rather wonderfully different answers to the question of what Baga is supposed to be.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis month we are putting \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Filipa Pato DNMC Baga\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e next to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Luís Pato Baga “Vinhas Velhas,”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and I can’t imagine a more instructive or delicious way to understand this notoriously recalcitrant grape. Father and daughter, working in the same windswept corner of Portugal, shaped by the same Bairrada landscape, yet arriving at wines with markedly different textures, timbres and trajectories.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd Baga is very much the point here.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBairrada sits close to the Atlantic, and that ocean influence matters: cool maritime air helps preserve Baga’s acidity, lengthen the growing season and keep the wines fresh rather than heavy. The region’s limestone- and clay-influenced soils are unusually suited for Baga. This is a grape with formidable natural acidity, substantial tannin and a rather inconvenient habit of demanding patience from both grower and drinker. Poorly handled, it can be positively truculent: angular, astringent, green around the edges. Properly grown and sensitively vinified, however, Baga becomes something far more aristocratic — red-fruited, floral, savory, mineral and almost unnervingly ageworthy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt is why comparisons to Nebbiolo persist. Not because Baga tastes exactly like Nebbiolo — it doesn’t — but because the architecture is familiar: relatively translucent color concealing serious tannic horsepower, soaring acidity, perfume rather than sheer fruit weight, and limestone soils that seem to give the structure an almost tactile precision. Both grapes can possess that wonderful contradiction of delicacy and severity, the vinous equivalent of a ballerina carrying a switchblade.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd nobody has done more to establish Baga’s importance than Luís Pato.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLuís is one of the seminal figures of modern Portuguese wine, a restless experimenter who spent decades studying Baga rather than trying to domesticate it. His work helped demonstrate that Bairrada’s indigenous grape could produce wines of extraordinary finesse and longevity, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e itself has genuine historical significance: when Luís first used the designation in 1988, it was reportedly the first Portuguese wine to carry the “old vines” idea explicitly on the label.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Luís Pato Baga “Vinhas Velhas”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e comes from Baga averaging roughly 35–40 years old in São Lourenço and Óis do Bairro, rooted in stony clay-and-limestone soils. The winemaking is fascinating because Luís has continued evolving rather than calcifying into tradition. Since 2020 he has deliberately backed away from extraction, lowering fermentation temperatures; the 2023 fermented with indigenous yeasts for approximately ten days at just 22°C before a long élevage in well-seasoned French oak. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWine Advocate\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e awarded it 94 points and specifically praised its fine-boned elegance, balance and capacity for long bottle development.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat matters, because this is not the caricature of old-fashioned Baga as some tannic medieval cudgel that requires fifteen years before approaching without protective equipment. Luís has kept the skeletal structure while refining the texture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe wine is wonderfully lapidary — cut rather than carved. Raspberry, sour cherry and damson sit alongside rose petal, dried violet, black tea and a little wild Mediterranean herb. Beneath that fruit comes Baga’s darker side: graphite, black olive, pine resin, dried earth and something faintly ferrous. The oak is seasoning rather than furniture. There is real tannin here, but it is fine-grained and tensile, stretched across the palate rather than piled upon it. At only around 12.5–13% alcohol, the wine’s structure comes from acidity, extract and old-vine concentration rather than ripeness. This is Baga as architecture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen along comes his daughter. Filipa Pato, working with her husband William Wouters, has become one of the defining figures of the next generation of Bairrada — not by repudiating Luís’s work, but by taking many of its underlying questions in another direction. Their farming is biodynamically oriented, their extraction deliberately gentle, and their style favors transparency over weight: vineyard character, limestone clarity, red fruit and Atlantic freshness, with as little intervention as possible.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Filipa Pato DNMC Baga\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — Dinâmica — is a beautiful encapsulation of that philosophy. The fruit comes from several Bairrada vineyards, including estate holdings around Óis do Bairro and growers working limestone soils elsewhere in the region. Average vine age is around forty years, with both bush vines and trellised vines represented; younger plantings have been propagated through massale selection from older material, preserving genetic diversity rather than simply planting standardized clones.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd then comes the crucial divergence. Where Luís gives \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e time in seasoned French oak, Filipa and William raise DNMC entirely in tank. The fruit is hand harvested, some whole cluster is retained, extraction is exceptionally gentle, and the wine receives a long maceration — around four weeks. It is an almost paradoxical recipe: prolonged skin contact without muscular extraction. Rather than beating Baga’s tannins into submission, they allow them to infuse.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe result is Baga with its hair down.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDNMC is immediately more diaphanous, juicy and kinetic: wild strawberry, tart cherry, tayberry and plum skin, then crushed violet, peppercorn, bay leaf, thyme and that distinctly Bairradan stony undertow. There is tannin — this is Baga, after all — but it feels lithe and filamentous rather than imposing. The absence of oak leaves the fruit and herbal character almost naked, while the acidity supplies terrific nervosité. Give it a slight chill and suddenly this famously structured Portuguese grape becomes dangerously quaffable.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is Baga as movement. And that is precisely why I wanted these two wines together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFilipa’s DNMC is not the “simple” wine and Luís’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the “serious” one. That misses the fascinating part. They represent two different ideas of what Baga can achieve. Filipa pursues immediacy through transparency: partial whole cluster, long but feather-light extraction, tank élevage, freshness, perfume and limestone clarity. Luís pursues depth through old vines, controlled fermentation and patient maturation in seasoned wood, giving Baga enough structure to show its capacity for development.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePut them side by side and the family resemblance remains unmistakable. Both are relatively low in alcohol. Both privilege acidity over sweetness of fruit. Both possess Baga’s peculiar combination of red-fruited perfume, savory complexity and structural rectitude. Neither is trying to turn Bairrada into Bordeaux or Napa or anywhere else.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut DNMC moves with lifted, kinetic energy, while \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e carries more gravity and depth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFilipa gives us violets, tart berries, herbs and wet stone, something almost Burgundian in its transparency but unmistakably Atlantic in its briny, cool-toned energy. Luís moves toward rose, raspberry, black tea, graphite, resin and earth, the tannins carrying a little more gravitas and the finish taking on a deeper, more layered quality as the wine sits in the glass.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd therein lies the great joy of drinking them together: this is not simply a comparison between two bottles. It is a study in inheritance and interpretation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLuís Pato spent his career proving that Baga deserved to be taken seriously. Filipa inherited that proof and was therefore free to ask a different question: just how graceful can Baga become without surrendering its identity?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe answer, happily, is sitting in these two bottles.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOpen the Filipa first, perhaps slightly cool, and watch its florality and red fruit unfold. Then move into the Luís, preferably with a little air, and feel the profile deepen — earth, tea, mineral, spice and old-vine gravitas gathering around the same red-fruited, acid-driven core.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBetter yet, leave both bottles on the table over dinner and move back and forth between them. Because together, they offer something considerably more interesting than two good Portuguese reds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese wines give us Bairrada in stereo: Filipa’s Baga all kinetic energy and translucence, Luís’s all quiet profundity and tensile strength. Same grape. Same family. Same limestone country. Two generations, two interpretations and one fascinating reminder of just how much Baga can be.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44547323527401,"sku":"","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/0EC581BD-B01D-458B-88A9-CDAE1886B40C.png?v=1786987884"},{"product_id":"william-hinton-6yr-rum-agricola-da-madeira","title":"William Hinton 6yr Rum Agricola da Madeira","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44104583839977,"sku":"","price":74.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"the-rare-wine-company-historic-series-madeira-baltimore-rainwater","title":"The Rare Wine Company Historic Series Madeira \"Baltimore Rainwater\"","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"750ml","offer_id":44376654774505,"sku":"828116000765","price":56.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"the-rare-wine-company-historic-series-madeira-new-york-malmsey","title":"The Rare Wine Company Historic Series Madeira New York Malmsey","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44376663261417,"sku":"","price":65.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/F3E0A05D-62A7-458A-BCF2-47DDEBF30560.png?v=1728408889"},{"product_id":"miguel-louro-apelido-tinto-alentejo","title":"Miguel Louro Apelido Tinto Alentejano","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45019078983913,"sku":"465901","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"quinta-de-santana-branco","title":"Quinta de Sant'Ana Branco 2022","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45019084423401,"sku":"466101","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-4108.png?v=1790963552"},{"product_id":"quinta-santiago-pisco-vinho-verde","title":"Quinta Santiago \"Pisco\" Vinho Verde","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45019088617705,"sku":"465502","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"quinta-do-javali-clos-fonte-do-santo-cherry-vineyard","title":"Quinta do Javali Clos Fonte do Santo Cherry Vineyard","description":"\u003cp data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eou think you know Douro reds. Big, dark, tannic, destined for Port before anyone thought to bottle them as table wine — 14.5% alcohol and a reputation to match. The 2020 Quinta do Javali Clos Fonte do Santo Cherry Tree Vineyard is a sharp break from that reputation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eQuinta do Javali has been working this stretch of the Douro's left bank, near Nagoselo do Douro, since the country was still exporting Port under British merchant contracts in the early eighteenth century — there's a restored farmhouse on the property with a threshold stone dated 1839, and the remains of an old rabelo-boat loading point down by the river, from back when barrels left the valley by boat instead of truck. This is old, unglamorous, working wine country, not a showpiece.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Cherry Tree Vineyard, though, is something else entirely — a single, tiny, northeast-facing plot climbing to 600 to 750 meters, the highest ground on the whole Clos Fonte do Santo property. Up there the vines are roughly 90 years old, planted the old Douro way: one field blend of 33 different native Portuguese varieties, all growing together, all picked together, nobody bothering to separate them out. Nobody plants like that anymore, because nobody can afford to wait ninety years to find out if it worked. Javali farms the whole thing biodynamically.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs for the name — it isn't a grape, and there's no marketing department behind it. It's simply what that particular hillside has apparently always been called, cherry tree or no cherry tree. Which makes it a very good joke on Javali's part, because the wine that comes off it tastes uncannily, almost comically, like a glass of red cherries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHere's how they make it: hand-harvested into small boxes, spontaneous fermentation in steel with roughly half the fruit left whole-bunch, a gentle press, and then it goes into used 500-liter French oak — old barrels doing nothing but babysitting the wine, not flavoring it. No cold stabilization, barely any filtration. Nothing here is designed to smooth the wine into something more conventional.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd the wine that results is 12% alcohol. In the Douro. Let that sink in for a second if you know the region at all.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat you get is pale, bright ruby — genuinely the color of a fresh cherry — with a nose of cherry, gooseberry and raspberry that reads more Beaujolais than anything you'd expect from a region known for power. The acidity is real, and the finish carries a vibrant, almost electric minerality straight off that schist. It is lifted, transparent, faintly wild, and it drinks like the mountain it came from rather than the valley everyone associates with Douro.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI keep a soft spot in every Terroir Club shipment for the wines that quietly argue with an entire region's reputation, and this is one of the best examples I've found. It's obscure even by Douro standards — most people who think they know this region have never tasted anything from up here — and that's exactly why it belongs in your glass this month.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDon't expect Port. Expect something stranger and better.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45019093827817,"sku":"465801","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-4266.png?v=1792697424"},{"product_id":"pormenor-douro-tinto","title":"Pormenor Douro Tinto","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45019094483177,"sku":"465702","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"quinta-da-rede-branco-reserva","title":"Quinta Da Rede Branco Reserva","description":"","brand":"Breakthru","offers":[{"title":"2020","offer_id":45219726852329,"sku":"","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"herdade-do-rocim-alicante-bouschet","title":"Herdade do Rocim Alicante Bouschet","description":"","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"2021","offer_id":45570882896105,"sku":"P68380","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"pormenor-douro-rose","title":"Pormenor Douro Rose 2019","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46205019914473,"sku":"46570322","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-4072.png?v=1790887830"},{"product_id":"quinta-santiago-chapim-alvarinho-2021","title":"Quinta Santiago \"Chapim\" Alvarinho","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"2021","offer_id":46794506207465,"sku":"46550321","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"barbieto-ricardo-freitas-verdelho","title":"Barbieto Ricardo Freitas Verdelho","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default 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Bank","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48089640534249,"sku":"p83330","price":58.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"quinta-do-infantado-rabigato-douro","title":"Quinta do Infantado Rabigato Douro Branco","description":"","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48134622314729,"sku":null,"price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"ramos-pinto-duas-quintas-ehite","title":"Ramos Pinto Duas Quintas White","description":"","brand":"Johnson\/Phillips","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48379373551849,"sku":"1642011","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"ramos-pinto-ervamoira-tawny-10yr","title":"Ramos Pinto Ervamoira Tawny 10yr","description":"","brand":"Johnson\/Phillips","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48379377516777,"sku":"71511","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"ramos-pinto-white-port","title":"Ramos Pinto 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Title","offer_id":49319180304617,"sku":null,"price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"luis-pato-pato-baga-vinhas-velhas-2023","title":"Luis Pato Baga Vinhas Velhas 2023","description":"\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOne grape, one region, one family — and two rather wonderfully different answers to the question of what Baga is supposed to be.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis month we are putting \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Filipa Pato DNMC Baga\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e next to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Luís Pato Baga “Vinhas Velhas,”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and I can’t imagine a more instructive or delicious way to understand this notoriously recalcitrant grape. Father and daughter, working in the same windswept corner of Portugal, shaped by the same Bairrada landscape, yet arriving at wines with markedly different textures, timbres and trajectories.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd Baga is very much the point here.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBairrada sits close to the Atlantic, and that ocean influence matters: cool maritime air helps preserve Baga’s acidity, lengthen the growing season and keep the wines fresh rather than heavy. The region’s limestone- and clay-influenced soils are unusually suited for Baga. This is a grape with formidable natural acidity, substantial tannin and a rather inconvenient habit of demanding patience from both grower and drinker. Poorly handled, it can be positively truculent: angular, astringent, green around the edges. Properly grown and sensitively vinified, however, Baga becomes something far more aristocratic — red-fruited, floral, savory, mineral and almost unnervingly ageworthy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt is why comparisons to Nebbiolo persist. Not because Baga tastes exactly like Nebbiolo — it doesn’t — but because the architecture is familiar: relatively translucent color concealing serious tannic horsepower, soaring acidity, perfume rather than sheer fruit weight, and limestone soils that seem to give the structure an almost tactile precision. Both grapes can possess that wonderful contradiction of delicacy and severity, the vinous equivalent of a ballerina carrying a switchblade.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd nobody has done more to establish Baga’s importance than Luís Pato.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLuís is one of the seminal figures of modern Portuguese wine, a restless experimenter who spent decades studying Baga rather than trying to domesticate it. His work helped demonstrate that Bairrada’s indigenous grape could produce wines of extraordinary finesse and longevity, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e itself has genuine historical significance: when Luís first used the designation in 1988, it was reportedly the first Portuguese wine to carry the “old vines” idea explicitly on the label.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Luís Pato Baga “Vinhas Velhas”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e comes from Baga averaging roughly 35–40 years old in São Lourenço and Óis do Bairro, rooted in stony clay-and-limestone soils. The winemaking is fascinating because Luís has continued evolving rather than calcifying into tradition. Since 2020 he has deliberately backed away from extraction, lowering fermentation temperatures; the 2023 fermented with indigenous yeasts for approximately ten days at just 22°C before a long élevage in well-seasoned French oak. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWine Advocate\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e awarded it 94 points and specifically praised its fine-boned elegance, balance and capacity for long bottle development.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat matters, because this is not the caricature of old-fashioned Baga as some tannic medieval cudgel that requires fifteen years before approaching without protective equipment. Luís has kept the skeletal structure while refining the texture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe wine is wonderfully lapidary — cut rather than carved. Raspberry, sour cherry and damson sit alongside rose petal, dried violet, black tea and a little wild Mediterranean herb. Beneath that fruit comes Baga’s darker side: graphite, black olive, pine resin, dried earth and something faintly ferrous. The oak is seasoning rather than furniture. There is real tannin here, but it is fine-grained and tensile, stretched across the palate rather than piled upon it. At only around 12.5–13% alcohol, the wine’s structure comes from acidity, extract and old-vine concentration rather than ripeness. This is Baga as architecture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen along comes his daughter. Filipa Pato, working with her husband William Wouters, has become one of the defining figures of the next generation of Bairrada — not by repudiating Luís’s work, but by taking many of its underlying questions in another direction. Their farming is biodynamically oriented, their extraction deliberately gentle, and their style favors transparency over weight: vineyard character, limestone clarity, red fruit and Atlantic freshness, with as little intervention as possible.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2023 Filipa Pato DNMC Baga\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — Dinâmica — is a beautiful encapsulation of that philosophy. The fruit comes from several Bairrada vineyards, including estate holdings around Óis do Bairro and growers working limestone soils elsewhere in the region. Average vine age is around forty years, with both bush vines and trellised vines represented; younger plantings have been propagated through massale selection from older material, preserving genetic diversity rather than simply planting standardized clones.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd then comes the crucial divergence. Where Luís gives \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e time in seasoned French oak, Filipa and William raise DNMC entirely in tank. The fruit is hand harvested, some whole cluster is retained, extraction is exceptionally gentle, and the wine receives a long maceration — around four weeks. It is an almost paradoxical recipe: prolonged skin contact without muscular extraction. Rather than beating Baga’s tannins into submission, they allow them to infuse.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe result is Baga with its hair down.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDNMC is immediately more diaphanous, juicy and kinetic: wild strawberry, tart cherry, tayberry and plum skin, then crushed violet, peppercorn, bay leaf, thyme and that distinctly Bairradan stony undertow. There is tannin — this is Baga, after all — but it feels lithe and filamentous rather than imposing. The absence of oak leaves the fruit and herbal character almost naked, while the acidity supplies terrific nervosité. Give it a slight chill and suddenly this famously structured Portuguese grape becomes dangerously quaffable.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is Baga as movement. And that is precisely why I wanted these two wines together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFilipa’s DNMC is not the “simple” wine and Luís’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the “serious” one. That misses the fascinating part. They represent two different ideas of what Baga can achieve. Filipa pursues immediacy through transparency: partial whole cluster, long but feather-light extraction, tank élevage, freshness, perfume and limestone clarity. Luís pursues depth through old vines, controlled fermentation and patient maturation in seasoned wood, giving Baga enough structure to show its capacity for development.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePut them side by side and the family resemblance remains unmistakable. Both are relatively low in alcohol. Both privilege acidity over sweetness of fruit. Both possess Baga’s peculiar combination of red-fruited perfume, savory complexity and structural rectitude. Neither is trying to turn Bairrada into Bordeaux or Napa or anywhere else.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut DNMC moves with lifted, kinetic energy, while \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVinhas Velhas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e carries more gravity and depth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFilipa gives us violets, tart berries, herbs and wet stone, something almost Burgundian in its transparency but unmistakably Atlantic in its briny, cool-toned energy. Luís moves toward rose, raspberry, black tea, graphite, resin and earth, the tannins carrying a little more gravitas and the finish taking on a deeper, more layered quality as the wine sits in the glass.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd therein lies the great joy of drinking them together: this is not simply a comparison between two bottles. It is a study in inheritance and interpretation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLuís Pato spent his career proving that Baga deserved to be taken seriously. Filipa inherited that proof and was therefore free to ask a different question: just how graceful can Baga become without surrendering its identity?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe answer, happily, is sitting in these two bottles.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOpen the Filipa first, perhaps slightly cool, and watch its florality and red fruit unfold. Then move into the Luís, preferably with a little air, and feel the profile deepen — earth, tea, mineral, spice and old-vine gravitas gathering around the same red-fruited, acid-driven core.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBetter yet, leave both bottles on the table over dinner and move back and forth between them. Because together, they offer something considerably more interesting than two good Portuguese reds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese wines give us Bairrada in stereo: Filipa’s Baga all kinetic energy and translucence, Luís’s all quiet profundity and tensile strength. Same grape. Same family. Same limestone country. Two generations, two interpretations and one fascinating reminder of just how much Baga can be.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vino Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51679858295017,"sku":null,"price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/Stockbottlewhitelabel.png?v=1686225622"},{"product_id":"mira-do-o-druida-tinto-2018","title":"Mira do O Druida Tinto 2018","description":null,"brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default","offer_id":51900670869737,"sku":"466202","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-4027.png?v=1790010852"},{"product_id":"2016-quinta-de-santana-reserva-tinto","title":"2016 Quinta de Sant'Ana Reserva Tinto","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e97 Points — In Vino Veritas\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A monument of a wine from Portugal's Lisboa region, the 2016 Quinta de Sant'Ana Reserva Tinto is everything the Super-Douro concept promises and then some. The nose is extraordinary: crème de cassis, dark plum and blackberry at the core, layered with cedar, graphite, dark chocolate, dried violet and a whisper of eucalyptus and pine resin that is unmistakably Portuguese. Nine years of bottle development have done their quiet, meticulous work — the tannins, once powerful and assertive, have resolved into something silky and completely integrated, while the fruit has deepened from fresh and primary into a complex, tertiary richness that keeps revealing itself across an entire evening. The palate is full-bodied, voluminous and deeply concentrated, yet possessed of a freshness and energy — the Atlantic breezes of Mafra running through the wine's spine — that prevents the power from becoming merely ponderous. The finish is extraordinarily long, dark-spiced and authoritative. For lovers of great Napa Cabernet who have not yet discovered what Portugal's finest blended reds can achieve, this is the bottle that will permanently alter their understanding of what is possible. Drink now through 2030.\" — In Vino Veritas, 97 Points\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIn the 1970s, a group of Tuscan producers did something the Italian wine establishment found deeply irritating and the rest of the wine world eventually found irresistible: they blended indigenous Italian grapes with international varieties — Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot alongside Cabernet Franc — and produced wines of such extraordinary power, concentration and elegance that the entire classification system was forced to reckon with what they had done. The Super Tuscans were born. Sassicaia. Ornellaia. Tignanello. Wines that changed the conversation about what Italian fine wine could be.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePortugal has its own answer. The 2016 Quinta de Sant'Ana Reserva Tinto is, in the most precise possible sense, a Super-Lisboa.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCall it a marriage of Merlot — the great Pomerol grape, the variety that makes Pétrus the most coveted red wine on earth — with Touriga Nacional, Portugal's most noble indigenous variety, the grape that gives Portuguese red wine its particular combination of floral intensity, dark fruit and structural gravitas. International conviction blended with Portuguese soul. The result is something that speaks fluently to lovers of great Napa Cabernet — the power, the concentration, the dark fruit generosity, the oak-integrated depth — while carrying underneath it all that particular Atlantic-kissed freshness that the Lisboa region's calcareous clay and ocean breezes produce and that warm-climate wines from California simply cannot replicate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe quinta itself dates to 1633. Let that number settle for a moment before we discuss the wine. Sixteen thirty-three. Quinta de Sant'Ana sat on the rolling hills of Mafra, bordering what was then the Tapada de Mafra — the royal hunting grounds of the Portuguese kings, a vast protected landscape of pine and oak and ancient stone walls where the monarchy came to hunt and the land was kept in something close to its natural state. The Atlantic was 20 kilometers away. The calcareous clay soils were — and remain — some of the most distinctive in the Lisboa wine region, giving the vines both the structure they need and the cool-night freshness that keeps everything alive and precise rather than baked and blowsy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 2016 is now 10 years old, and that matters. For a wine this concentrated and structured, a decade in bottle is exactly where things get interesting: the fruit deepens, the tannins settle and the whole wine begins to show the complexity it was made to develop.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67588551180521,"sku":"466106","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-4116.png?v=1790963785"},{"product_id":"pormenor-douro-tinto-canuco-2019","title":"Pormenor Douro Tinto \"Canuco\" 2019","description":"","brand":"Select Sellars","offers":[{"title":"Default","offer_id":67608686526697,"sku":"465708","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-4083.png?v=1790962402"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/collections\/download_5361b4ae-4f85-4914-a4d5-7ba2c26192ba.png?v=1774124936","url":"https:\/\/waterfordwine.com\/collections\/portugal.oembed?page=7","provider":"Waterford Wine and Spirits","version":"1.0","type":"link"}