Haja Cortezia - Alvarinho Barrica 2021

White wine.

Crunchy, Saline, Structured.

The wines of Haja Cortezia are truly products of their unique environment.

The old vines stretch out of the barren sandy soil a mere kilometre from where the cliffs fall off into the raging Atlantic ocean. The cold wind whistles across these plains bringing salt and rain that teases texture and bite out of the vines and into the wines.

Haja Cortezia is family project run by Luis and Teresa since it was founded in 2019. They work closely with their small plots of old vines that are dotted around their little village, Cortezia, which lies within the Lisbon subregion of Colares.

This is a famous old region that is beloved for its bespoke style of viticulture in the loose sandy soils and its fascinating wines; aromatic whites and savoury herbal reds that seem to age forever.

Luis and Teresa are working to preserve this legacy while also bringing Colares into the future with modern expressions from these ancient vineyards. They work the vines using ancestral methods of both pruning and vineyard care that predate the use of any chemicals. Their approach in the winery is ancestral too, to extract the grapes distinct personality while keeping them honest and true.

All of their wines are spectacular but this Alvarinho caught my attention.

It was fermented in steel with native yeasts before spending a year in used oak to simultaneously sharpen up and soften out the edges.

It's a gorgeous drop and a wonderfully unique expression of Alvarinho!