Vinhos Gota "Prunus" Branco Private Selection, Dao, Portugal 2022

FROM LA LUZ SELECTIONS:

THE WINE: 50% Encruzado, 15% Malvasia Fina, 15% Bical, 15% Cerceal Branco, 5% others (co-ferment). ‘Prunus’ means stone fruit. Here, you get white peach, kefir lime, apricot and starfruit on the nose. The palate is elegantly sewn with a light lanolin-like texture but offers bracing acidity at the same time. Powerful aromas from Malvasia, matched with layers and complexity from Encruzado (cement aging), and the Bical/Cerceal offers acidity for aging.

THE PRODUCER: Natalia Jessa is on the forefront of becoming the new face of Portuguese wines and one of the hardest working people around. Having relocated to Portugal for love from Poland via Ireland to Oporto, Natalia Jessa has really taken grasp of what is virtually an underserved market for inexpensive and incredibly delicious Portuguese wine. She says it herself in the most adorable broken Portu/Polish English accent: “Drink it, don’t overthink it.”

Natalia leverages long standing relationships and vineyard knowledge in each region where she orchestrates the entire production in conjunction with a “winemaker on the ground”. Each local expert friend helps Natalia source the most organic grapes from the best soils for each native grape variety within each region. These wines are very unique and true to place.