This week’s Wine of the Week is a terrific white blend from one of Portugal’s leading wine companies – Symington Family Estates.
2020 Quinta da Fonte Souto
Disclosure: Wine provided as a media sample. No other compensation was involved. All opinions are mine.
This wine is a blend of 75% Arinto/25% Verdelho. 60% of the blend was raised in 500 liter oak barrels in contact with lees. The final blend was aged seven months in a combination of new French and European oak(50%), in second and third year wood (40%) and stainless steel (10%)
Tasting Note: Pale lemon color with very appealing lemon curd, tropical fruit, stone fruit, honeysuckle and spice aromas. On the palate it’s medium-bodied with vibrant mouthwatering acidity and ripe white peach, apricot, passion fruit, pineapple, lemon zest, Key lime, honey, spice and white tea flavors with a very satisfying finish. Drink now or hold. 14.5% abv|SRP – $26. 91pts.
This wine offers terrific quality for the price. It has mouthwatering freshness and the weight to make it a great four-season, food friendly white wine!
About Symington Family Estates
Symington Family Estates is a multi-generational family run business of British and Portuguese origin that has lived and worked in Portugal since the 19th century.
With deep roots in Port (they run four of the leading port houses, Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s, and Cockburn’s), they also have a portfolio of Douro wines consisting of Quinta do Vesuvio, Quinta do Ataíde, Altano, and Prats & Symington (a widely acclaimed joint venture that produces Chryseia and Post Scriptum).
They are the leading vineyard owners in the Douro Valley with 26 Quintas covering a total of 2,255 ha of which 1,024 ha are under vine.
The latest addition to their portfolio, and their first foray outside of the Douro Valley, is Quinta da Fonte Souto, in the Alentejo in southern Portugal.
“Quinta da Fonte Souto is in the Portalegre subregion of the Alto Alentejo in southern Portugal. Close to the São Mamede range (1,025 metres), the property benefits from the area’s altitude with its cooler microclimate in sharp contrast to the Alentejo region’s typically hot and dry conditions. Yields are low due to the schist and granite soils, which are less fertile than those found in the flat and rolling terrain which characterizes the majority of the Alentejo” explains their website.
They were the first wine company in Portugal to become a certified B Corporation, which means they’ve meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
They have a wide-ranging sustainability strategy – Mission 2025 that includes a minimal intervention philosophy in the vineyard and the winery.