View: Straw yellow, clean, bright, with plenty of tear. Nose: White fruits (apple, pear...), fennel, touches of citrus, minerality, saline granite destructurado. Mouth: Fresh with carbonic fermentation, citric, wide, fatty, glyceric. Notes of fruit in syrup, balanced acidity, structured, with long finish and persistent.

Pairs With: Cornbread

Ask anyone for the best Alvarinho in Portugal and people will point to the northwestern villages of Moncao and Melgaco, just on the border with Spain. Nortico Alvarinho is a superb example of the grape's hallmark traits: fresh citrus, peach and tropical aromas paired with clean, juicy fruit and vibrant minerality. Here, on the south bank of the Minho River, farming is as it was centuries ago, with the grapes planted on granite pergolas in plots so small they are called “jardins”--or...

Pairs With: Cornbread