The Douro Valley may be better known for Port and red table wines, but its whites can offer tremendous quality and value for money too. This brilliant, unoaked blend is a cuvée of seven different local grapes – Arinto, Codega, Godello, Malvasía Fina, Moscatel, Rabigato and Viosinho – from cooler, higher altitude sites. Spicy, pithy and intense, it’s a bright, tangy, seafood friendly number with citrus, lime, white pepper and fennel flavours and a lingering finish. Outstanding value.
White Varietal: Malvasia Fina
Supergrapes vs. Evil Greegeo
by Matt Walls
Whenever I hear about a new graphic novel based around wine like The Drops of God or The Initiates, I get excited. They tend to be fairly grown-up affairs, but...
2012 Mestral, Can Sais, Baix Emporda, Empordà
( €8, 13.5% )From the flatter, clay rich soils of the lower Emporda region, this is a blend of Malvasia, Xarel-lo, Garnatxa Blanca and Macabeu. Richer in colour with some tannin and grip, this is almost bitter sweet, with honeyed notes and a dry finish. Needs rich food to show at its best.
2011 Valle Pradinhos Branco, Transmontano
( £10.95, 13.5%, The Wine Society )It’s remarkable to discover that Rui Cunha’s innovative white blend of Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Malvasia Fina comes from the Upper Douro, a region usually better known for full-throated reds. But there you go. This tastes as good as it looks: spicy and aromatic with a hint of Burgundian style struck match, notes of lime and ginger, plenty of minerality and a long, nuanced finish.