Adega Viuva Gomes - Malvasia, Collares, Portugal (2021)

TASTING NOTES

Ridiculously rare wine alert...with so little produced they're only permitted to bottle in 500ml to enable a bit more to be shared! With apple and pear, vanilla and kitchen spices, this is a fresh and mineral driven wine with a dry structure and light acidity. Floral notes of jasmine, orange blossom, and honeysuckle, savoury herbs, minerals and a touch of the salinity.

Collares is literally being consumed by ocean erosion and suburbanization/tourism expansion...Portugal's (and one of the world's) smallest growing areas will likely not be around in a decade or two.

Less than 20 hectares exist RIGHT on a narrow stretch of beach just outside of Lisbon. The ungrafted vines (phylloxera could not penetrate past the sandy soils) have to be propped up so as not to be burned by the sand and face unrelenting Atlantic Ocean storms, winds, sand storms and beachgoers. It is inhospitable to say the least.

Adega Viúva Gomes, established in 1808 continues the traditions begun by Roman viticulturists 2000 years ago - and while its red wines crafted from the ultra rare Ramisco grape is the unicorn of the line-up, its almost equally rare white from the unique variety, Malvasia de Collares is a collector wine that will age for decades.