1000 Curvas – Único

Technical information

Producer: Castanheira de Santa Leocádia – Sociedade Agrícola, Lda
Region: Baião – Vinhos Verdes
Soil Type: Granite
Strains Age: 10 years
Density per HA: 4200 plants
Grape Varieties/Blend: 5 Wines / 3 Years / 2 Grapes 15% Chardonnay 2015 + 20% Chardonnay 2016 + 20% Chardonnay 2017 + 20% Alvarinho 2016 + 25% Alvarinho 2017
Conducting the Vineyards: Bi-lateral cord
Sea Height: 250 meters
Harvest period: September’15; September’16; August’17
Harvest Method: Manual
Fermentation: Stainless steel, spontaneous
Malolactic: Yes
Bottled: July 2018
Volume: 0.75 and 1.5 Lts
Maturation: 29 months in bottle

Vinification

A blend of several wines of different ages – Here’s our interpretation of time.

The batch consists of three Chardonnays wines (2015, 2016 and 2017) and two Alvarinhos (2016 and 2017).

2015 – A heterogeneous year, due to a dry spring that lasted into the summer. Good quantity and better quality with an early maturation and harvest in the 1st week of September.

2016 – In turn, it was an atypical year, the winter was “hot and rainy”, the spring cold and very rainy, the summer extremely hot and dry.

2017 – It was an extremely dry and very hot year with successive heat waves. All this contributed to the harvest still taking place during the month of August.

In the three harvests, a first selection of bunches was carried out in the vineyard. Following the refrigerated transport in 20 kg boxes. Then they were pressed slowly and smoothly, allowing a controlled extraction with the absence of skin maceration. The must was decanted for 48 hours using total oxidation. Fermentation took place in stainless steel vats by spontaneous fermentation followed by malolactic fermentation in Chardonnay (2015 and 2016) and also in Alvarinho de (2017).

The 2015 Chardonnay was aged for 24 months in Barricas with a span of empty (Flor).

Chardonnay and Alvarinho 2016 separated into tears and press musts. The wine from the fermentation of tear musts entered this batch. Stage in total lees until May 2018.

The Chardonnay 2017 was separated from the tear must, the presses were quite oxidized and fermented and this wine was empty until May 2018, enhancing the oxidative profile – Flôr.

Alvarinho 2017 was made in tanning for 8 days, finishing its alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in barrels used in 225L.

Wine has not been stabilized or filtered, bottled in July 2018; coming to market in November 2020.

Test results

Straw yellow in color, it has an elegant and complex aroma where the different layers and aromas are shown throughout the tasting. The orchard fruit (apricot) joins the citrus aromas that guarantee freshness. Then come the floral notes, wet stone and some smoke and bakery notes.

Structured, it is also complex in the mouth, with a very lively more elegant acidity, where the minerality is evident, making it a fresh but also voluminous wine. Long, dry and citrus finish.