Antonio Madeira Dão Vinhas Velhas Branco 2020
$83.00 inc. GST
AROMA: Lovely citrus fruit core and some ripe apple and pear, and subtle notes of toast, spice and lanolin
PALATE: Mineral, layered with depth and complexity . The texture and saline minerality here are fantastic. Such a multidimensional wine with lovely depth and weight.
FOOD MATCH: Freshly Shucked Sydney Rock Oysters
Grape Variety: Siria, Fernão Pires, Bical, Encruzado, Malvasia Fina, Arinto and Cerceal.
Drinking window: 2025-2032
Alc. 13,00%
35 in stock
Description
António Madeira is French of Portuguese descent, and his family roots are in the Serra da Estrela, Portugal’s highest mountain range located in the upper Dão region.
António believes the heart of Dão lies in this mountainous region, and that the fine, fresh, mineral wines you can produce here – which he refers to as the ‘Grands Crus of the Dão highlands’ – have great ageing potential. Madeira is a keen advocate of working the vineyards manually and organically, “to give life to the soils,” so the roots go deep (communicating with the mother rock) and the indigenous yeast population thrives. It is, he said, the way to express “minerality and all the flavours of the landscape.” He’s crafting phenomenal, terroir-focused wines and showing the potential of this often overlooked region.
His winemaking philosophy is simply to respect the grapes and the natural environment. Grapes are hand harvested and winemaking is gentle, aiming for minimal extraction. Using only 500l barrels whose oak has been very slowly toasted and stainless steel vats. Cultivating 30 different plots from 15 different vineyards totalling 6/7 hectares of vines. This is Burgundy scale parcellation! Most vineyards are located in the foothills of the Serra d’Estrela, but some are actually higher in the mountains. All of his wines are co-fermented field blends, using indigenous yeast and very little sulphur. If there’s a through line in his wines it would be a touch of salinity with ample freshness, an earthy quality like the first moments after it rains. Antonio Madeira is passionate about the traditions and heritage of the Dao’s Serra Da Estrela sub-zone and has nearly single-handedly rescued and preserved some of its most historical vineyards from abandonment.
Organic and biodynamic practices.
The white Vinhas Velhas 2020 comes from all the vineyards cultivated by Antonio Madeira, aged from 50 up to 130 years old, where we found field blends of around 20 autochthonous grape varieties, some of them forgotten varieties. 80% of the field blend is Siria, Fernão Pires, Bical, Encruzado, Malvasia Fina, Arinto and Cerceal. This wine expresses the character and elegance of the land that witnessed its birth and takes us on a journey through time to discover the aromas and flavours of Serra da Estrela foothills, just as they were back in the time of our forefathers. This wine is complex and refined with lovely citrus fruit core and some ripe apple and pear notes. It’s quite mineral and layered with depth and complexity and subtle notes of toast, spice and lanolin. The texture and saline minerality here are fantastic. Such a multidimensional wine with lovely depth and weight.
Additional Information
| brand | Antonio Madeira |
|---|---|
| size | 750ml |
| vintage | 2020 |
Reviews / Ratings / Awards
António Madeira, Vinhas Velhas 2020 Dão
17.5/20
Full bottle 1,360 g. From the Serra da Estrela subregion. Old-vine field blend farmed biodynamically. Rented vines in 15 small parcels. Vines 50–130 years old and around 30 different rare varieties. One year in 500- and 600-litre barrels and then one year in tank for natural settling. Free SO2 10 mg/l.
Nutty, almost a little bit toasty, but not from oak. There’s still the smoky/stony layer of all these Madeira Dão wines. Spicy citrus with a more cedar-like character starting to emerge. Powerful, generously creamy in the mouth – broader and deeper than the Dão Branco – and yet with immense freshness. Still very youthful and will benefit from longer in bottle. Deep, chewy and finely chalky at the very end. Masses of energy and with the harmony of old vines.
(Julia Harding MW) Jancis Robinson
