CONCEITO
Douro Branco
2014
- Organic
About this winery
Conceito owner/winemaker Rita Ferreira Marques is a rising young star in Portugal’s Douro Valley. Rita began her university days pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering, however the call of her family’s vineyards in the Eastern Douro Valley was too strong to resist and Rita switched concentrations to complete her degree in Oenology. Rita augmented her studies through internships with renowned wineries in Bordeaux, California, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Douro Valley. It...
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Tasting notes
94 Points - Wine Advocate The 2014 Estate Branco is seen now for the first time in the USA. It is an old vines field blend (80-year-old vines, 600 meters altitude) fermented in used French oak barrels (second, third and fourth use) and aged for ten months. It comes in at 13% alcohol. It was bottled unfiltered in June, 2015. If you want to know what you get by stepping up in price from the lovely Contraste, that is pretty clear. First, there is a big stylistic difference. The Contraste is a fresher, lighter and steelier white. This is a bit lusher and more concentrated. They both handle their oak well, but the wood influences the texture here a bit more, and perhaps for the better. Ignoring comparisons, this is a bit on the piercing and steely side as well in its youth. It seems quite brilliant, with enlivening acidity, even if a bit unevolved just now. It has a rather long finish and a tightly-wound feel. As it warmed, its beautiful fruit kept bubbling up and the wine became ever more graceful.