Vinhas Velhas Branco, Antonio Madeira, 2021

A world class wine from Antonio Madeira, who is at the cutting edge of contemporary Portuguese wine. As so often with top winemakers - the skill comes from looking back to the past, cultivating ancient vineyards and harnessing traditional practices.

The Vinhas Velhas has incredible concentration, depth and overflows with minerals and refreshing salinity.

Antonio farms over 20 small parcels at the foothills of the Serra dEstrela, at an average altitude of around 500m. He works with biodynamic principles but takes immense care with every tiny detail of vine work. Everything is very manual, very labour intensive, and most of the parcels are worked by horse. He has been on a mission
to unearth what he calls the Grand Cru vineyards of the Dao mountain range - very special old parcels that speak of a lengthy and forgotten heritage. Most parcels are field blends as per local tradition.