Quinto de Vale de Pios 2021 Douro DOC Branco

The Wine

This wine has great body with citrus and minerality flavors, and a distinct salinity. Alcohol is surprisingly well balanced with just ripe tropical fruit notes. Reminds you of Albariño on the nose and then is a bit more rich on the palate.

The Winery

Joaquim is a one-man team - he plants, tends, harvests, and vinifies the wines in his small cellar near the Spanish border of Portugal. Barca d’Alva is the closest village nearby and also serves as the last stop on the Douro River before it becomes the Duero in neighboring Arribes DO. 

This region is particularly dry, receiving an average of just 6 inches of rain per year! This is, essentially, a desert climate that can grow only the most stubborn and persistent of plants, primarily grapes and olives. 

The soil is a veritable mosaic of broken quartz, granite, shale, and a subsoil of vertical black schist. Daily temperatures peak well over 105 degrees in the summer, but the night time temperatures drop to the upper 50s providing a delightful freshness and acidity to the wines of this region.