Quinta da Lapa Reserva branco – Tejo, Portugal

Description

A new supplier and our first own import from this fascinating wine country: Portugal.

The domain is situated some 70 kilometres north of Lisbon in the Tejo wine region, the Tagus Valley. It was founded in 1733 and has about 100 hectares of vineyards. Many unknown local grapes are planted there (Trincadeira, Arinto, Fernâo Pires, among others) and they also work with better known varieties such as Viognier and Chardonnay for white and Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon for red. They also work with the proud wine grape of Portugal: Touriga Nacional. There is a fairly warm climate in this fertile valley. The vineyards are located on the poorer soils in the hills. An additional advantage of this is that it is slightly less warm in those hills and cools down more at night, so that the grapes develop a nice aroma.

The Tejo area (formerly Ribatejo) is not very well known yet and the winemakers of Quinta da Lapa are working hard to gain international recognition. They are succeeding, as they have won many medals at important competitions in recent years, such as the Decanter World Wine Awards, the International Wine Challenge and the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. In 2011, they opened a Wine Hotel on the domain.

White: Full and exuberant wine of 35% Arinto, 35% Chardonnay and 30% Viognier. Arinto is the ‘odd’ grape here. It is a grape which can be compared to Sauvignon: it provides the freshness in the wine. This combined with the more exotic character of the Chardonnay and Viognier (which have both also matured for about 4 months in oak wood) makes this a complete glass of wine.

Gastronomically very interesting with fish dishes (salmon, tuna and of course Portuguese stockfish), but also delicious with soft cheeses.