Monte Cascas Malvasia de Colares

Description

Monte Cascas Malvasia de Colares 2018 — ungrafted white from vines rooted in Atlantic sand

100% Malvasia de Colares from pre-phylloxera, own-rooted vines over 80 years old, a kilometre from the ocean. Saline, mineral, built to last twenty years.

Colares is one of the strangest vineyards in the world. The vines grow 0.9 to 1 kilometre from the Atlantic at 106 to 111 metres, planted in deep sand over hard clay — sand that phylloxera cannot cross, which is why these vines still stand on their own roots, ungrafted, more than eighty years on. They are trained in horizontal cordons across the sand and lifted on wooden props six to eight weeks before harvest.

Cool damp summers, sea fog and salt-laden wind shape the fruit. Hand-picked in the second and third weeks of September. Direct manual pressing over ten slow hours, controlled hyperoxidation, twelve hours of settling, then fermentation entirely in used barrels. Twelve months in French oak. 13.7% alcohol.

Lemon in colour. The nose is sea air and iodine with russet apple and a clear mineral line. The palate is saline and fresh, finishing long and persistent.

Serve at 10 ºC. Cellaring 2024–2044. Drink on its own, or with cheese, oysters and mussels, or sushi with seaweed. First vintage produced: 2008.

Read more in the Journal

• What Is Terroir?
• Freshness: The Secret Is in the Balance