Insula Arinto dos Açores Branco 2023

Grapes from Pico Island. Selective hand-harvest into 15 kg crates, gentle whole-bunch pressing, settling for 24 hours before racking into fermentation vats. Arinto dos Açores, exclusive to the Azores, gives unique wines with great freshness and citrus aromas with a tropical touch, combined with salinity from the Atlantic surroundings and the minerality typical of volcanic basalt soils.

The Wine Advocate
RP 93

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

The 2023 Arinto dos Açores, a blend of younger and older vines in different parts of the island, was fermented in stainless steel and 500-litre barrels with indigenous yeasts and matured for 15 months. It has some smoky, flinty notes; serious, mineral and austere, more stony than fruit-driven, with a medium-bodied palate and dry finish. It's tasty with some saline hints. It shows restrained ripeness and 12% alcohol, keeping good freshness and acidity, reflected in a pH of 3.33 and 6.65 grams of acidity. 2,600 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2023.