It was in 1982 that the Cerdeira family bottled and labelled their first wine, Soalheiro Alvarinho. Recognised as the “Clássico”, it became the most classic expression of Soalheiro and a symbol of family viticulture in Monção and Melgaço.
The 2023 vintage continues to reveal its timeless profile and the classic style of a monovarietal wine from the Alvarinho variety.
A classic and timeless profile
Soalheiro Clássico is synonymous with the timeless profile of Alvarinho, with its intense flavour, unique aromatic freshness and an unusual evolution in the bottle.
The 2023 harvest stands out for its precision and balanced acidity, despite the fact that the year accelerated the ripening of the grapes early on, especially in the valley plots where Soalheiro Clássico is born. The detail in scheduling the harvest is fundamental to maintain the character of the Clássico, especially in years like this:
“Each year has specific characteristics and we had to adapt: if the year advances the vineyard, we advance the harvest. We believe that change is the only way to preserve tradition…”
Luís Cerdeira, Soalheiro’s winemaker
Read more about the challenges of the last harvest in the 2023 Vintage Report!
2023 Harvest notes
Soalheiro Alvarinho (Clássico) 2023 has a bright lemon-yellow colour, a fresh and elegant aroma, immediately revealing the extraordinary complexity of the Alvarinho variety on the nose, and an intense flavour, marked by tropical and mineral notes, perfectly balanced with the acidity and moderate alcohol content.
The objective of vinification is to obtain a wine that showcases the grapes’ high quality, resulting in good evolution in the bottle. The grapes are harvested by hand and between pressing and fermentation, the must is clarified at a low temperature. The wine ferments in stainless steel and matures on fine lees before bottling.
The “Clássico” born from a patchwork
The uniqueness of Monção and Melgaço is due to the natural conditions, but also to the particularities of family viticulture.
Today, Soalheiro has a Viticulturists’ Club with more than 180 families, who represent a much larger number of small plots of vines, the fragmentation characteristic of this smallholdings reality. It is in this diversity that Soalheiro focuses on, both to explore different profiles of Alvarinho and to maintain the consistency of Soalheiro Clássico:
“The fact of making several different harvests, apart from allowing us to explore different profiles of Alvarinho, means that we have the diversity to fine-tune the profile of the Clássico. This is a wine umbilically linked to the vineyards from the valley, but in this 2023 vintage we chose to include a small percentage from high altitude vineyards in the blend, to enhance the freshness and precision that characterise it.“
Luís Cerdeira, Soalheiro’s winemaker
Discover the 2023 vintage of Soalheiro Alvarinho (Clássico)!
Soalheiro Alvarinho (Clássico) 2023
