Folias de Baco Uivo Vinhas Velhas Branco 2023

The Land

The Douro is known for red and fortified wine, but some of its most compelling ground belongs to white grapes. On the plateau of the Cima Corgo around Alijó, well above the river, old vineyards between 500 and 600 meters grow on soils derived from schist and granite. White varieties like Gouveio, Viosinho and Rabigato have been planted up here for generations because altitude does what the valley floor cannot: cool nights, slower ripening, and acidity that holds through a Douro summer. These vineyards were planted as field blends, with more than 15 native varieties mixed in the same rows, so the wine reads as a portrait of a site rather than a single grape. High-altitude old vines like these make the case that Douro white wine deserves the same attention as the region's reds.

The Wine

More than 15 native varieties go into the Uivo Vinhas Velhas Branco 2023, led by Gouveio, Viosinho and Rabigato from vines over 70 years old. Selected clusters are hand-harvested, part of the blend gets a 24-hour cold soak on the skins, and the wine ferments in French and chestnut barrels, 30% new, before 12 months on its fine lees. No sulfur is added at crush, and it finishes at 12% alcohol. The skin contact gives light grip, and the lees time builds a round, textured mid-palate under high acidity. Orange peel, amaro, saffron, fennel seed and dried apricot, then dry tannins and a medium-long finish. 2023 was a kinder Douro vintage after the drought of 2022, with abundant winter and spring rain, a near-normal July, and several rain events during the September harvest.

The People

Tiago Sampaio works out of Sanfins do Douro, a village north of the river on the Alijó plateau, where he bought the old local cooperative a few years ago. He founded Folias de Baco in 2007 on vineyards that had been in his family for generations, after studying agricultural engineering in Vila Real and doing doctoral research on vine physiology at Oregon State. His brand name, Uivo, means "howl," and it suits a producer who stopped submitting most of his wines to the Douro DOC in 2021 and bottles them as table wine instead. The vines are farmed organically, and alcohol stays low. The Vinhas Velhas Branco is the clearest proof that his natural approach can produce a white built to age.

Food Pairing

With barrel texture, grip and high acidity, this white can handle a full dinner. Bacalhau à Brás, salt cod folded with shoestring potatoes, soft eggs, black olives and parsley, is the Portuguese match, the salinity meeting the wine's own. Roast chicken with lemon, garlic and fennel picks up the fennel seed and orange peel. Seared scallops with brown butter and a pinch of saffron mirror the saffron in the glass. Butternut squash risotto with sage and parmesan leans on the dried apricot side. This is the white to open when you are cooking something you would normally pair with red.