ALVARO CASTRO RESERVA ENCRUZADO

Description

Lisbon-born civil engineer Álvaro Castro, who had no previous winemaking experience but found himself the heir to two small farms (or quintas) known as Pellada and Saes, is now widely regarded as the Dão’s foremost winemaker. Together with his daughter Maria (also an engineer by training), they make some of Portugal’s most iconic and compelling wines.

This one, their Reserva Encruzado, is especially noteworthy in our opinion. Encruzado is barely grown outside of the granite hills of the Dão, but thrives in the relatively cooler climate afforded to it here. It’s a super full-bodied, highly textured variety that producers here love to give a somewhat burgundian treatment: long maturations in mostly older cooperage, with lees stirring to really amp up the waxy/fatty feel. Alvaro Castro, to go one step further, always gives their whites just a little bit of skin contact, so it has even more varietal character and depth (and colour).

Jancis Robinson calls Encruzado the “Chablis” of Portugal – which seems apt. Lots of notes of grapefruit/lemon citrus, a touch of ginger, lovely floral high tones, a touch of nuttiness. But, being warmer than Chablis, it’s also riper. Perhaps the Côtes de Beaune-esque wine of Portugal? Eh, doesn’t really have the same ring to it.