Dona Maria Arinto 2021

Dona Maria Arinto 2021 is a single-varietal white made by Júlio Bastos at the emblematic Quinta do Carmo in Estremoz, Alentejo. 

The Wine Advocate
RP 91

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

The serious, expressive, juicy 2021 Arinto Reserva has notes of peach and other stone fruit, quince and pollen. On the palate it's round and enveloping, with a rich, juicy texture. It has 13.5% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity, reflecting a cooler year.

It was made from grapes from roughly 20-year-old dry-farmed vines at 400 metres on limestone soils. It fermented in stainless steel with neutral yeasts, then finished fermentation and aged in 400-litre barrels for six months, with bâtonnage.

3,500 bottles were produced. The wine was bottled in January 2023.

Dona Maria is the project of Júlio Bastos, who took over an old estate that, from 1986 to 2000, was known as Quinta do Carmo. Bastos started the project in 2003 and now has 72 hectares of vines in the Estremoz area, five of them over 70 years old.

The winery comprises three old 19th-century buildings, restored in 2003. One of them keeps 19th-century marble lagares. There are 18 cement vats where the reds age. The newest building has fermentation vats for whites, reds and rosés, as well as a bottling and labelling line.

Average production is about half a million bottles a year. The style of the wines is described as neoclassical Alentejo.

Published: 15 May 2025