Quinta da Fonte Souto White

Year: 2017
Grape Varieties: 75% Arinto e 25% Verdelho
Ageing: 60% of the blend was fermented and aged 8 months in new 500-litre oak barrels (French oak and from Central Europe and acacia wood), in contact with the lees.
Bottled: April 2018
Storage & Serving: Ready to drink but has good ageing potential.
 

Tasting Notes

Luminous pale straw-golden colour. Expressive aromas of honeysuckle with soft butterscotch notes. The seamless barrel integration is mirrored in the delicate touch of vanilla. On the palate, the fruit is crisp and focused with succulent flavours of white plum and citrus tones in the background. Harmonious and charming, revealing good bottle-ageing character.
 

Winemaking

The hand-picked grapes are placed in small, shallow boxes and taken to the on-site winery. Manual sorting is followed by destemming and gentle crushing after which the grapes are transferred to a pneumatic press for a light pressing. Fermentation begins in stainless steel vats but immediately after alcoholic fermentation commences, part of the must is transferred to 500-litre French oak barrels (this higher capacity minimises the impact of the wood on the aromatic component). The must is left in contact with the lees with frequent bâtonnage (stirring the lees) in order to encourage extraction of compounds that contribute complexity and structure and that balance very well with the good acidity provided by the altitude of the São Mamede Range.
 

Winemakers

Charles Symington, Pedro Correia and José Daniel Soares (resident winemaker)
 

Analysis

Alcohol: 14.30% vol.
Volatile acidity: 0.4 g/L (acetic acid)
Total acidity: 6.5 g/L (tartaric acid)
pH: 3.3
Total sugars (gluc+fruct): 0.9 g/L
Allergy advice: Contains Sulphites