Decanter World Wine Awards 2025 - Best in Show - 97pts
This is a truly amazing Vinho Verde, made from the premium Alvarinho variety. This was apparently the first Vinho Verde to be made in Melgaco, Northern Portugal. Very different to the normal light spritzy styles, this has real weight to it. Zesty on the nose, white peach and citrus, grape too with some saline notes. Incredibly tangy and fresh on the palate, ripe red apple, stone fruits and citrus, it's bursting with really clean fresh fruit, with good acidity and a long finish. It's seriously delicious being both crisp and refreshing but also quite complex and moreish. JH
DWWA 2025 Best in Show
"Our Portuguese panel has been alive to the vibe from Moncão et Melgaço in Vinho Verde for some years now (with a Best in Show in our 2021 competition), so it was gratifying to see this benchmark example cruise its way back into this year’s selection. ‘Green’ is often an insult in winemaking terms, but in Portugal’s granite-soiled Vinho Verde (‘green wine’) region, it’s a prerequisite. The joy of Alvarinho, of course, is that it adds an extra aromatic note of floral charm here (apricots are more typical in Galicia), so your journey into the wine is as much journey into flower garden as it is forest glade. The palate is impressive: there’s nothing slender or shivering about it, nor does it rely on sweet tweaks. Instead it’s svelte and textured, with density to match the wine’s natural drive and freshness. Its 12.5% is low enough to make it a white to drink, not to sip … with or without food: this wine would make both a quenching aperitif and a perfect summer-salad white."
