“Luis Seabra’s style is clean, precise and elegant - wines that reflect their birthplace, the soils and varieties and the year when the grapes grew. Superb wines.” - The Wine Advocate

When taking a bottle of wine to a dinner party, there’s a certain amount of pressure when you are a wine merchant (as we occasionally pretend to be) to choose something that’s both delicious and original. We might feel like a flinty Chablis, but that would display a woeful lack of imagination, so we flick through our mental Rolodex of groovy alternatives and this Portuguese white often springs to mind first.

It’s very much a ‘mineral-driven’ white, informed by the schist (xisto) soil on which the vines grow, with a rocky undertow to the notes of lime cream, oyster shell and white flowers. It’s a blend of mostly Rabigato with 20% Arinto and 5% each Gouveio and Codega from 35- to 60-year-old vines, fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged in used French oak barrels, with 30% of the wine fermented and aged in stainless steel to retain its edgy freshness. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2028.

Press review:

The Wine Advocate: “The 2023 Xisto Ilimitado Branco feels very fresh and clean, with a shy nose and balanced palate with purity and precision and comes through as balanced and elegant. Excellent! Drink now-2030.” 92 points