Tasting Notes: Elisa’s Vigno Branco is a co-fermented blend of traditional Portuguese white varieties: Encruzado (50%), Bical (20%), Cerceal (20%), Fernão Pires (5%) and Barcelo (5%), from vines... up to sixty years of age, planted in the poor granite and schist soils of the Serra da Estrella foothills.The pale yellow wine has aromas of ripe apricots, chamomile, and orange blossoms, alternating with suggestions of yellow quince, key lime zest, mint, basil, and fresh nutmeg as the nose evolves in the glass. On the palate, the wine is silky and layered, with a deeply satisfying core of warm tree fruit and fresh cream that puts on weight over time in the glass, punctuated by sweet herb undertones, palpable briny minerality, and refreshing malic acidity. Drink now-2026 with nearly any cuisine imaginable. Read More
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Elisa Freire Lobo's family has farmed in the foothills west of the Serra da Estrela (the highest mountain range in Portugal) for, "as long as anyone can remember," she says with a laugh. Upon the completion of her enology degree in 1999, she returned to her family's farm, but for over a decade, the grapes she grew at Freire Lobo were sold elsewhere, as she was not convinced that the grapes were good enough for her own wine. During those first years restoring her family's vineyards, Elisa honed her winemaking skills with Alvaro Castro, one of the Dão's original estate winemakers.In addition to the vineyards, the farm is home to olive groves for oil and 300 Bordaleira sheep. Early on, Elisa noticed that the environment in the olive groves was much healthier than in the vineyards—the olive trees hadn't been treated with chemicals during previous years as the vines had, but even more importantly, the sheep had always been allowed to roam in the olive groves (fertilizing the soils as they went). So, along with getting rid of the synthetic vineyard products ("at the time, no one knew what organic meant," she says, "but it just made sense to me to stop using anything that wasn't natural"), allowing the sheep to graze in the vineyards during the winter has helped restore a bit of nutrient content to the otherwise pitifully poor granitic and sandy soils of the estate.After nearly fifteen years of restorative work in the vineyards, Elisa bottled her first vintage in 2014 (just over 500 cases of red wine and 100 cases of white), becoming the first woman-led estate in the Dão.
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This area in the center of northern Portugal is home to high-elevation vineyards (generally between 1300-2300 feet above sea level) is one of Portugal’s oldest demarcated wine growing region, or, Denominação de Origem Controlada. Protected from harsh Atlantic winds, the region is temperate, with schist and granite soils. Wine has been grown here for millennia, but in the 19th century, under the leadership of viticulturalist, João de Sacadura Botte Côrte-Real, the quality of the wines was raised, establishing the first “famous,” Portuguese wines outside of the fortified Port wines. Upon applying for membership in the EU in 1979, the old practice of allowing only co-operative wineries was abandoned, and now the wines from the region are held in high esteem, with small producers who grow their own grapes leading the way.
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Blending varieties in Portuguese white wine may include Cerceal, Bical, Encruzado, and a number of others. Percentages don’t generally follow a “recipe,” but are a function of each vintages growing conditions.
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Grilled, olive oil-Laced seafood, whole-roasted fish, as well as pastas with diced tomato and herbs work very well with this wine.
