Product description
Quinta de Santiago is located in the heart of Monção e Melgaço—the coolest, border region of Vinho Verde, just above the Minho Valley.It is a family-run farm that the Santiago family has been operating since 1899; for decades, they sold their grapes to a cooperative, until 2009.Her granddaughter, Joana Santiago, convinced her grandmother, “Mariazinhá,” to bottle her own wines and showcase the terroir to the world.Today, the vineyard has only about.7.5 hectares; the winery works with native yeasts and prioritizes biodiversity—river terraces with granite soil mixed with clay produce an Alvarinho with tension, salinity, and crystalline purity.Since 2018, Joana has been co-creating the SOU line with Nuno Mira do Ó; since 2022,.Nuno also oversees all aspects of the estate's winemaking.
“SOU Alvarinho” comes from the Tentilhão vineyard—a young but superbly balanced plot on alluvial terraces, where large daily temperature fluctuations during ripening lock in the grapes’ freshness and juiciness.The wine is deliberately made using a “minimal intervention” approach: hand-harvested, gently pressed, gravity-settled, and fermented with wild yeast.For this cuvée, some of the must is transferred to used barrels and the rest to vats; the entire wine is then aged on fine lees to develop texture and a long, firm finish.
Appearance: light straw-colored, glossy, with a dense “crown” when swirled in the glass.
Aroma: slowly unfolding notes of lemon leaf, lime zest, and grapefruit; white flowers and wild meadow; apricot and a delicate, stony saltiness; with wet stone and a hint of barrel-derived spices in the background.
Taste: tight, juicy, and textured; distinct yet refined acidity carries a citrus-apricot core, while subtle creaminess from aging on the lees and a hint of saltiness extend the mineral finish.
Food pairings: perfect with oysters, clams, and shrimp; with grilled sea bass or “o-toro” tuna; great with spicy frango da Guia, quail in escabeche, or tomato- and herb-based tapas.