Luis Seabra Granito Cru Branco Dão 2023

After a decade as winemaker at Niepoort, where he was responsible for some of the best known and highest rated wines to come out of the famed Douro and Porto producer, Luis Seabra decided that he no longer wanted to make wines to someone else’s tastes and specifications. Thus, he began his eponymous winery, and set about shattering preconceptions of what Douro wines represent. The Xisto Cru Branco is one of a series of wines that Luis makes that exemplify and express the intensely terroir-driven style in which he operates. He is a particularly gifted winemaker, one who sees wine as a medium through which a piece of land can speak. “Cru” translates as “raw” in Portuguese, and the transmission of terroir here is unadulterated and singular. This series of wines is one in which he removes every variable but that of the land itself, and the stark expression of the soil that results is extraordinary. He works exclusively with spontaneous fermentation, native yeasts, and large format tight-grained oak for all the wines in this series.  

This is a striking representation of what a traditional white wine from the Dão would have tasted like a century ago — Encruzado, the region's noble white grape, balanced here by two supporting local varieties, Bical and Sercial. The blend is 60% Encruzado, 30% Bical and 10% Sercial, from sustainably grown vines planted around 1987 in granitic soils laced with quartz. It's a vegan wine.

The parcel sits near Vila Nova da Tázem, in the foothills of the Serra da Estrela — mainland Portugal's highest point, a heavily protected natural area also known for its stargazing. Dão's cool climate is prized for wines with real lift, brightness and elegance. The region fell into decline through the 1960s and was overshadowed for decades by more internationally fashionable areas, but thanks to vignerons like Seabra, it's steadily reclaiming its former reputation.

Grapes are hand-harvested, crushed and destemmed, then pressed and decanted into used 500L French oak barrels, where they co-ferment spontaneously on indigenous yeast. The wine rests in barrel on lees (no batonnage) for a year, then moves to stainless steel for a further 6 months, completing full malolactic fermentation along the way.

Deliciously salty, in the mold of the world's great mineral-driven whites — pure, yet with real richness too: stone fruit, melon, almond, and remarkable persistence and energy, all held together by real tension and purity. It clings to the palate with a salty nuttiness and herbal lift. A wine that makes you sit back in your chair — there's a lot to unpack here, and a lot to simply enjoy.