Style:

A precise and mineral-driven Douro white, combining freshness with structure and depth. Elegant and complex, with strong terroir expression and aging potential.

Vineyard:

Located in the Douro Valley, sourced from old vines planted on schist (“xisto”) soils. Higher-altitude vineyards and poor soils ensure low yields, preserving acidity and enhancing minerality and concentration.

Winery:

Hand-harvested grapes, whole-bunch pressed and fermented with native yeasts. Aged in neutral oak with extended lees contact, adding texture while maintaining purity and balance.

Nose/Palate:

Citrus, stone fruit, floral notes, and mineral hints on the nose, followed by a medium-bodied palate with vibrant acidity, textured mineral-driven character, citrus and orchard fruit flavors, subtle oak and lees influence, and a long, precise, elegant finish.

Douro Superior is the easternmost and hottest of the three Douro subregions, extending towards the Spanish border. Its continental climate is characterised by hot, dry summers, low rainfall and large temperature differences between day and night, creating challenging but highly distinctive conditions for viticulture.

The landscape is dominated by schist and granite soils, with vineyards often planted at significant altitude. The combination of poor soils, low rainfall and old vines naturally limits yields, concentrating flavour while the cooler nights help preserve acidity and freshness.

For white wines, altitude is particularly important. Traditional varieties such as Rabigato, Viosinho, Gouveio and Códega do Larinho can produce surprisingly fresh and mineral wines despite the region’s heat, showing citrus, stone fruit, white flowers and pronounced stony or saline character.

Compared with Cima Corgo, Douro Superior generally offers a more continental and austere environment, with greater temperature extremes and often a stronger sense of altitude and mineral structure. The wines can be powerful and concentrated, but carefully positioned vineyards can produce remarkable freshness and precision.

Douro Superior is the Douro at its most extreme — intense sunlight, dry continental conditions, high-altitude vineyards and poor soils creating wines with concentration, mineral depth and surprising freshness.

These four traditional white varieties form an important part of the Douro Superior’s dry white wine identity, where high altitude, intense sunlight and poor schist and granite soils create a distinctive balance between ripeness and freshness.

Rabigato brings high acidity, lemon, green apple and a pronounced mineral and saline character. In the hot Douro Superior climate, it provides essential tension and freshness.

Códega do Larinho contributes ripe citrus, pear and white flowers, adding aromatic generosity and a softer texture to the blend without excessive weight.

Gouveio combines citrus and orchard fruit with floral notes, good acidity and a slightly broader palate, giving the wine structure and aromatic lift.

Viosinho adds perfume, concentration and texture, with citrus blossom, stone fruit and a fine mineral character. Its natural acidity makes it particularly well suited to the warmer conditions of the Douro Superior.

Together, these varieties create a white wine style that balances ripe fruit, freshness, mineral tension and texture. Their combination works particularly well in high-altitude vineyards, where cooler nights help preserve acidity and allow the grapes to retain precision despite the region’s hot, dry climate.

The result is a distinctly Douro Superior expression: more concentrated and textured than lighter Atlantic whites, yet lifted by acidity and the mineral character of its mountain terroir.

The 2023 vintage in Douro Superior combined a rainy winter with a hot, dry spring and summer, creating good water reserves followed by an early ripening season. White grapes were harvested relatively early, helping preserve acidity and freshness despite the region’s warm continental climate.

The vintage produced whites with ripe citrus, stone fruit and floral aromas, supported by vibrant acidity and a clear mineral character. High-altitude vineyards were particularly important, allowing varieties such as Rabigato, Viosinho, Gouveio and Códega to retain freshness and aromatic precision.

Compared with the intensely hot and dry conditions of 2022, 2023 brought more water reserves and a better balance between ripeness and freshness, resulting in wines with good concentration without losing their natural acidity.

2023 is a particularly attractive vintage for dry Douro Superior whites — combining ripe fruit, freshness, mineral tension and the distinctive character of high-altitude vineyards.