Casal Figueira - Antonio Vital 2020
Price: $53.99
Sale Price: $42.99
| Producer | Casal Figueira |
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| Country | Portugal |
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| Varietal | Vital |
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| Vintage | 2020 |
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| Sku | 02937 |
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| Size | 750ml |
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Last year we were teased with just a few cases by the importer, so this summer I went to Portugal to taste the new vintage and convince them to give us more! We travelled along narrow roads and through the tiny villages of Portugal’s Lisboa region to find this vineyard on Serra de Montejunto (a well-known mountain that rises practically directly out of the Atlantic on Portugal’s coast). It was a rural landscape, with goats in pasture, meadows, and fields of grain surrounding us. But where were the vines? Where were taking me? We parked the at the foot of a steep footpath and hiked up the hill, there at the stop was a small vineyard of bush vines clinging to the windswept slopes. How on earth did they ever find this place? All the credit goes to Antonio Carvalho, a viticultural pioneer who had a passion for reviving Portugal’s long forgotten native grape varieties. Antonio and his wife Martha continuously hiked and scouted this area by foot, eventually gaining the trust of the locals. This insider track enabled them to find these four hidden plots on Montejunto where fruit for this wine comes from: 50-100 year old autochthonous, semi-abandoned Vital vineyards. The Atlantic defines the climate here in Lisboa, temperate but humid, windy, and cooled by the sea. The 700 meter high mountain Montejunto intensifies everything, acting like a wall to the sea wind. Montejunto runs virtually parallel to the coast and is home to the aforementioned hidden vineyards, with four limestone plots located on the north side, planted between 200 and 450 meters high. The altitude and limestone soil of these vineyards imparts the exceptional freshness and mineral character this wine show.
100% Vital hand harvested by friends, family and volunteers in 15 kilo baskets. The fruit from the four plots are vinified separately, showing clear differences in terroir. Gently pressed after settling, the wine is put in 200-liter French oak barrels for 9 months. Light battonage, only native wild yeasts for fermentation, little to no sulphites and only very filtration prior to bottling. This is a strikingly pure and natural wine that conveys terroir above all else. Intense aromas of white flowers, fresh tarragon, green and yellow apple, pear and vanilla. On the palate, intense and bright, with silky texture and a rare combination of weight and elegance. Orchard fruits, flowers, spicebox and bright citrus lead to a long, fresh, savoury finish with lifted tones of green herbs and limestone minerals. It’s the limestone that continually brings me back, that bright pop of stony zip drawing you back for another sip time after time. If you love Chablis, dry Rieslings, Austrian Gruners, and all manner of northern Italian and Loire Valley whites this wine is for you. Drink it now for sure and you’ll love it, but tuck a few away in the cellar if you can too. This little Vital ages incredibly well, taking on more richness and complexity as it ages. I’m still drinking some of my 2013s and the are glorious!
This is a wine meant for bounty of the sea, and its oyster season too! Grab a bushel of your favourites crack them open and go to town. Don’t like oysters? Try raw clams, salt and pepper shrimp, or a fresh crab salad. Lighter cream based pasta dishes can work well too. At 11.5% alcohol this wine doesn’t overwhelm whatever you’re eating.
Tragically, during the 2009 harvest Antonio passed away unexpectedly due to heart failure, leaving Marta and his children the fermenting wines in the barrel. Marta has managed to continue making wine at Casal Figueira, having shared winemaking duties with Antonio for 10 years prior to his passing. She renamed the wine “Antonio” in his memory, and its uniquity is a fitting tribute.
Vital is a very rare grape, in fact 85% of the Vital production in the Lisboa DO is at Casal Figuiera. Needless to say this is a tiny production wine, less than 500 six packs were produced. I have secured 20 six packs for the store, but they won’t last long!
Absolutely captivating stuff, I find something new to love about this wine each and every time I taste it.
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