I am writing to you as one of your die-hard fans. You have done more to champion the Alvarinho grape and the Vinho Verde region than any other producer.
You have also taught me a great deal about the Alvarinho grape, having had the chance to try some of your older vintages at wine tasting events has proved to me that the Alvarinho produces white wines with huge bottle ageing potential.
Every year, I put a few bottles of your main label Soalheiro Alvarinho aside and keep them for at least 5 years, the results have been stunning, especially when they reach around 10 years of age.
I love your oaked white Reserva which after a few years in the bottle reminds me of a white burgundy whilst your “Primeiras Vinhas” label expresses the characteristics of the Alvarinho grape in its purest form like few other wines.
I could carry on heaping praise on you as one of my favourite producers but I do have small gripe. You now produce around thirty different wines and I sometimes wonder if you are starting to lose the plot, a case in hand being your recently launched Cota 27, a wine I see that is made from a specific plot of vines down by the river on your estate.
I have not seen this wine on sale in shops or supermarkets yet but spotted it on the wine list at a restaurant last week and seeing that it was priced the same as your standard Soalheiro Alvarinho (pictured on the right), we decided to give it a try and I’m sorry to say that we were not impressed.
It is a nice enough Alvarinho but a bit flat on the nose and lacking acidity, so we ordered a bottle of your main label to try alongside it.
There was a year in difference between the two wines, the Cota 27 being from 2022 and the main label from 2023, but it was clear all the same that Cota 27 is an inferior wine. This is not the first time that I have been disappointed by one of your new wines and I do wonder, what it is you are achieving by constantly expanding your portfolio?
