Luís Seabra Vinhos Xisto Ilimitado Branco 2023 750ml

This has aromas of sliced green apples, orchard fruit, fennel and a touch of flint. Medium- to full-bodied and fresh, with texture and pleasant phenolics. Long and persistent. Incredible value. A blend of multiple vineyards in Douro Superior. 60% rabigato, 15% gouveio, 15% codega and 10% viosinho. Made from 30- to 45-year-old vines. Aged for 12 months in used barrels. Drink or hold.

2023 was not as warm as 2022, and the 2023 Xisto Ilimitado Branco feels very fresh and clean, with a shy nose and balanced palate with purity and precision. It was produced from the zone of Meda in the south of Douro Superior, close to Beiras, from purchased grapes, mostly Rabigato with 20% Arinto and 5% each Gouveio and Codega from 35- to 60-year-old vines at 500 to 700 meters above sea level on schist soils (hence the name!). The bunches were pressed and the juice let to settle and fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 228- and 500-liter oak barres for 10 months with the lees, with full malolactic but without bâtonnage. It has 12.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.35 denoting freshness and comes through as balanced and elegant. Excellent! 80,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2024.

The 2022 Xisto Ilimitado Branco was not approved by the Douro appellation, but it's from Douro grapes, from the zone of Meda in the south of Douro Superior, close to Beiras, from purchased grapes, mostly Rabigato. It has the Seabra signature of cleanliness, definition, balance, elegance and quality oak. It has 12.5% alcohol and a round palate. All of the whites go through 100% malolactic, and in this case, some 20% of the wine was unoaked. 2022 is a year with more fruit, rounder, with mellow acidity. It's a low-yielding year, with some 45,000 bottles; in 2023, he will bottle close to 80,000 bottles.