White Blend, 2020. Duas Quintas

Duas Quintas gets its name from the two estates owned by Port pioneer, Ramos Pinto, who planted the first grapes in the Douro that would eventually become Portugal's most famous wine.

For a century all that was made here was the dessert elixir we know as Port. It was only about 50 years ago that a few skilled, but experimental winemakers were curious to see what kind of a wine they could craft from these same grapes if they made a dry, red wine.

That experiment worked so well that a few decided to venture into making wines from the indigenous whites of the Douro. Rabigato is the principal grape that has been a benchmark here for over 200 years. Its vibrant acidity needs to be brought down a notch with Viosinho's softer structure and intense aromatics. Further complexity is attained by Arinto, one of the principal grapes in Vinho Verdes, Portugal's most vibrant white.

The different melodies of these grapes on the palate provide a symphony of flavors so unique, they can't be compared to any other wine in the world. While we've tasted apricot and pear in other wines, for some reason this wine puts a different tilt on those flavors.

The deep floral aromas with hints of white peach and Meyer Lemon make it hard to resist with a pasta in a rich tomato broth sporting clams and mussels or sauteed calamari with capers and chopped tomato.

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