Luis Seabra Granito Cru Dão 2022

After a decade as winemaker at Niepoort, where he was responsible for some of the best known and highest rated wines to come out of the famed Douro and Porto producer, Luis Seabra decided that he no longer wanted to make wines to someone else’s tastes and specifications. Thus, he began his eponymous winery, and set about shattering preconceptions of what Douro wines represent. The Xisto Cru Branco is one of a series of wines that Luis makes that exemplify and express the intensely terroir-driven style in which he operates. He is a particularly gifted winemaker, one who sees wine as a medium through which a piece of land can speak. “Cru” translates as “raw” in Portuguese, and the transmission of terroir here is unadulterated and singular. This series of wines is one in which he removes every variable but that of the land itself, and the stark expression of the soil that results is extraordinary. He works exclusively with spontaneous fermentation, native yeasts, and large format tight-grained oak for all the wines in this series.

Dao expression here. Encruzado, bical and sercial the varieties off a 35 year old site. Very salty, deliciously so, in the vein of great minerally wines of the world. So pure yet richness too, stone fruit, melon, almond, amazing persistence and energy with tension and purity in spades. sticks to the palate with salty nuttiness and herbal lift. Wow. This is a wine to sit you back in your seat. So much to talk about, so much to enjoy.

The Real Review

Luis Seabra Vinhos Xisto Ilimitado Branco 2023- 93 / 100 Points

Medium-deep golden yellow colour; very savoury bouquet driven by creamy lees, mealy and meaty notes and smoky snuffled-candle sulfides, the palate leaner in profile with fresh, balanced acidity and traces of honey-roasted nuts. Clean finish with considerable length enhanced by textured subtle tannins.

– Huon Hooke/