Luis Seabra Indie Xisto Douro Tinto 2022

After a decade as winemaker at Niepoort, where he was behind some of the best-known and most highly rated wines to come out of the famed Douro and Port producer, Luís Seabra decided he no longer wanted to make wine to someone else's brief. So he started his own eponymous winery, setting about upending expectations of what Douro wine can be. He's a genuinely gifted winemaker — one who treats wine as a medium for land to speak through, rather than a vehicle for a house style.

'Indie' is a pure expression of terroir, sourced from a single, sustainably farmed vineyard in Alijó, in the Cima Corgo subregion of the Douro. Planted over 70 years ago — an unlikely site for red wine — the vines grow in clay loam soil dominated by blue slate, at 580 metres elevation, and are tended by Luís and his own team. It's a field blend of native varieties including Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Amarela, Rufete, Tinta Barroca and others, planted in the 1950s.

Fermentation runs entirely on indigenous yeast, using 100% whole clusters vinified in square concrete tanks, with nothing added beyond a touch of sulfur. Maceration lasts 10 days, followed by 18 months' ageing split between 500L French oak barrels and 2500L Eastern European oak casks. Just 6,000 bottles are made.

This is a wine where altitude, soil and tradition come together in genuine balance — vinified simply, so the land itself stays the defining voice in the glass.

Rating history: 2023: 96 (The Wine Advocate), 93 (Wine Advocate); 2022: 93+ (Wine Advocate); 2021: 94 (Wine Advocate), 94 (James Suckling); 2020: 93 (Wine & Spirits), 90 (Wine Spectator); 2019: 95 (Wine Advocate); 2016: 92 (Wine Advocate); 2015: 94 (Wine Advocate); 2014: 92 (Wine Spectator)