Tubarão Vinhos Loureiro Frisante Branco 2024

Tubarão's Frisante Branco is a lightly sparkling white in the traditional Vinho Verde manner, made from 100% Loureiro — a variety prized in the Minho for its freshness and minerality and increasingly regarded as one of Portugal's finest whites. The gentle effervescence comes from natural carbon dioxide retained in the wine rather than any added gas.

The fruit is grown in Famalicão, a cooler sub-region of the Minho that lends the Loureiro a touch of richness — an unctuousness the winemakers describe as "greasiness" — on top of its inherent freshness, which is what makes it so gastronomic. Made with minimal intervention: spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, unfiltered, very low sulphites.

Aromatically pure: white flowers such as acacia and honeysuckle, with lemon and grapefruit and the Minho's characteristic minerality beneath. The light sparkle gives a lively, crisp mouthfeel, and the subtle textural richness from Famalicão rounds out the refreshing acidity. Fresh, dry and low in alcohol — made for seafood, salads and warm afternoons.

Tubarão, founded in Póvoa de Varzim by Márcio Lopes and Ricardo Garrido, is a project built on low-intervention winemaking and on supporting the growers who still farm the region's endangered campos de masseira — rectangular pits dug into the coastal dunes in the 18th century by Benedictine monks, with vines planted on the sand walls to shelter a warm, fertile centre nourished by fresh groundwater and seaweed.

Region: Vinho Verde DOC (Minho), Portugal
Grape Variety: 100% Loureiro
Alcohol: 11.5%
Sulphites: Low — average 4 mg/L
Vegan friendly: Yes (uncertified)
Serving Temperature: 8–10°C