Mouchao Ponte Branco

Decanted juice from hand-picked Verdelho grapes starts its fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats before finishing the primary fermentation in new French oak barriques. Left on fine lees, battonage was carried out fortnightly for the first 12 weeks over the six months in cask and before bottling at 7 months, giving the wine its roundness and mouth-fill.

Responsible husbandry and care in the vineyard is critical to achieving the best Mouchão fruit and sustaining the estate's healthy bee population. A tiny area of Verdelho was top-grafted in 2015 (onto 21-year-old Perrum vines) in the Barragem and Mouchão Velho vineyards, mostly ‘skeletal’, stony, alluvial clay aromas. The sheltered east-west rows lie on the shallow banks of the large Mouchão reservoir, providing a freshness, complexity and concentration common to few whites in the region. Verdelho was a reference at Mouchão since the Estate’s earliest viticultural days. Renowned travel writer, W. H. Koebel wrote in 1909, on dedicating a whole chapter of his book “Portugal, its Land and People” to the Mouchão Farm: “…the visitor to southern Portugal who fails to demand Verdelho of the genuine kind will have my pity, but not my sympathy”. Perhaps surprisingly, the DOC system has not yet caught up with the century-old tradition for growing true Verdelho in the Alentejo, hence the Vinho Regional Alentejano classification.

Tasting Note

White flowers and stone fruit on the nose, with hints of spice. Creamy palate with more fruit and vibrant acidity.