Anselmo Mendes - Muros Antigos Escolha, DOC Vinho Verde Alvarinho, Monção e Melgaço, Portugal (2022)

TASTING NOTES

Crystalline green. Intense citrus on the nose, particularly lemon balm, fresh peaches and some florality. Saline and slightly leesy, this has more weight than the average vinho verde, but the same crisp, elegant, mineral-driven seaside-y vibes that are perfect for hot summer days. 

The term escolha means choice or selection, implying a use of only the better plots in the vineyards and muros antigos means ancient walls, referring to the stone walls that criss-cross the ancient vineyards of the region.

Anselmo Mendes is a native son of Monção e Mongaço, one of the nine subzones of the Vinho Verde zone, from an agricultural family that, like most in the area, dabbled in wine for household consumption. After university studies in agronomy, he began to specialize in wine, starting his own label in 1998.

He has since been twice named winemaker of the year in Portugal’s most prestigious wine publication and is now known as “Mr. Alvarinho”.

The certified sustainably farmed grapes are fermented with native yeasts at very low temperatures and aged briefly on the lees to preserve the fresh and delicate aromas in the wine. 

Perhaps the most important distinction to Mendes' wines is that they are bone dry whites, and are made with no fizz. This allows the terroir and minerality to shine bright and provides for some of the greatest value for those that love Chablis, Muscadet or really, any mouthwatering white with a shimmering mineral footprint.