2010 Verdelho Colheita

Fermented for 6–7 days, with no malolactic conversion. Empty bottle weight 550 g. Free SO 2 < 10 mg/l, total SO 2 < 15 mg/l, RS 75 g/l. Really exciting wine that people can revisit over all the holiday season; this grabbed my attention. Bright orange. Obviously aged but with some sweetness and so much nutty, aged character. Long and herbs and just so much interest! Fabulous undertow. (JR)

The 2010 Colheita Single Harvest Verdelho was aged for ten years in very old oak casks and contains 75g/L residual sugar. The nose offers dried peach skin, melted candle wax and wood varnish scents, well-defined and demonstrating a little more focus than its Sercial counterpart. The palate is superb. Seamlessly constructed with a pitch-perfect line of acidity, this just feels complete and effortless. This Verdelho comes highly recommended with gorgeous mandarin, dried honey, hazelnut notes and a slight oxidative edge on the finish. 2,523 bottles produced.

Tasted from a mini sample bottle. Verdelho grown on vineyards in Porto Moniz, on the north coast of the island. Aged 10 years in very old oak casks. TA 6.8 g/l, VA 0.72 g/l, RS 75 g/l, pH 3.34. 2,523 bottles released in 2023. Verdelho always tastes like the cello to Sercial's violin. Although the wine smells of wet, newly planed oak and crushed coriander seeds and dried sage, it tastes of sweet pickled ginger root and rosemary in orange syrup. Like the Sercial, there is an explosion of black pepper on the finish, but here it comes with satin ribbons of sour-cherry fruit with a deep, coppery glow. Tastes like midsummer sunrise. (TC)