Astronauta Arinto 2019

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 One of the things that I find most fascinating about wine it is the stories around its creation and how they can influence your final perception of it. 

The director of the shop where I work has recently confessed me that he has decided to buy a Barca Velha as he came across its history and its particular selection of grapes and how a vintage is determined.

In my case, I have been a growing fan of Anibal Coutinho´s Astronauta project where the Oenologist has decided to work with grapes which did not belong directly to him but were carefully chosen in special areas.

In the case of this one, Coutinho has chosen one of the Portuguese star white grapes and decided to make a vinho verde even though Arinto finds in the Lisbon area its best expression.

I have to confess that I was positively impressed as soon as I felt its tremendous freshness invading my palate, revealing some of the main notes you can find in a vinho verde such as pineapple and grapefruit.  It is definitely a wine which invokes some pure summer happiness now that the winter is slowly invading northern Germany. 

With it, I would definitely recommend a more than felt going back to Pessoa:


I know, I alone
How much it hurts, this heart
With no faith nor law
Nor melody nor thought.

Only I, only I
And none of this can I say
Because feeling is like the sky -
Seen, nothing in it to see.


16,5/20
Country: Portugal
Region: Vinho Verde
Grapes: Arinto
11%
Winemaker: Aníbal Coutinho
Website: http://www.astronautwines.com

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