Louro 2017

The entry-level 2017 Louro was cropped from an unusual year marked by frost that reduced the crop by some 40%. It's a blend of Godello with around 8% Treixadura with good ripeness, concentration, power and acidity, managing a considerable alcoholic degree with low pH and notable acidity. It fermented in 3,000-liter oak foudres, where it was kept with the fine lees for four months. This is a great wine, perhaps not as long lived as As Sortes, because the vineyards are not as high in altitude and have a little more clay in the soils. It's a little more varietal in character but also marked by the soils, especially on the finish. It's very expressive early on. It's not a banal wine—it's serious, clean, balanced and concentrated, ripe without excess, expressive, aromatic and open. It has intense, pungent flavors with a saline, tasty twist I often find in wines from granite. It combines power with balance. This overdelivers for its price. 105,000 bottles produced. It was bottled between April and May 2018.