Susana Esteban "Tira o Veu" Alentejo, Portugal 2022

FROM GROSSBERG/KOPMAN SELECTIONS:

THE WINE: A blend of traditional Portuguese varietals including Bical, Fernão Pires, Arinto, Malvasia Fina, Roupeiro, Pérola. Tira o Véu White 2022 comes from an exceptional vineyard over 85 years old located in the Serra de São Mamede at 700 meters above sea level with a mix of traditional grape varieties. It was vinified in Amphoras with 30% of skin contact. In December of the same year the skins were removed but the wine it remained to age in Amphora until July of the following year. In the spring time it created a veil of flor yeast on the surface, a phenomenon that rarely happens and which is typical of the production of Jerez wines.

THE PRODUCER: Susana Esteban may have been born in Spain, but in her relatively short career she has already established herself as one of Portugal's greatest winemakers. She started working as a winemaker at Quinta do Côtto, Douro, in 1999. In 2002 she moved to the highly regarded Quinta do Crasto, also in the Douro valley, where she worked as winemaker until 2007, when she moved to Alentejo to search for vineyards to begin her own project. It wasn’t until 2011 that she found what she was looking for, a clutch of old vineyards on the granitic slopes of the Serra de São Mamede in Portalegre. The project, which highlights the potential of this nearly forgotten terroir and its treasure of old vines, won immediate acclaim.In 2012 she was the first woman to ever be awarded “Best winemaker of the Year” by Revista de Vinhos, the country’s premier wine publication. Now, in 2023, she has established herself as one of Europe's greatest winemaking talents, making some of the most precise, classically refined, and elegant wines in Europe.