Mendes & Symington Contacto Loureiro 2024

Mendes & Symington ‘Contacto” Loureiro 2024 - Vinho Verde, Portugal
$24     Soul Wine Price $20.40

This deliciously fresh Portuguese white is a collaboration between the Syminton family, port producers for five generations and Amselmo Mendes, one of Portugal's top grower/winemakers, native to the Lima Valley, south of Monção and Melgaço, a subregion of Vinho Verde.

Here he works with the Louiero grape which according to Mendes is “Loureiro is the most widely planted grape variety in Vinho Verde. In Minho (Vinho Verde land), everybody used to have some Loureiro planted in their backyard. The main reason is because it has high yields, and the focus was always on quantity, not on quality. What I began to realize by the end of the last century and in my subsequent studies was that, properly worked in its best terroir (Lima Valley), the grape variety has as much potential (aging potential and quality/complexity potential) as Alvarinho, although with a completely different profile . . . Properly worked, though, it delivers unique wines, slightly floral on the nose, white petals and jasmine perfume, citric in the mouth (lemon, lime, salty – it is planted very close to the Atlantic Ocean), with an amazing backbone acidity (Loureiro is the highest acidity grape we work with), a grape variety really perfect to pair with shellfish, for instance.”

It was love at first taste for Andrew and I when we tasted this. It is all Mendes says it reinforces Portugal's reputation for producing excellent white wine as well as giving us a new perspective on the region of Vinho Verde. Drink this with salads, little fish, salty snacks on a sunny afternoon.