Parker om:
Primus Quinta da Pellada
The 2024 Primus is tight, unevolved and young, very serious, with some austerity, and built for the long run. I wrote similar words last year when I tasted the 2022 vintage. It's mainly Encruzado and Bical but also has other autochthonous co-planted varieties from the region, like Cerceal, Terrantez, Malvasia Fina, Verdelho and Barcelo, 19 different varieties in total. The harvest is done in two passages; the first in the beginning of September, to pick Bical, and 10 days later, they picked Encruzado, Malvasia Fina, Terrantez, Cerceal, Douradinha, Fernão Pires, Verdelho, etc. All the juice from both picks fermented together after a night of skin contact with destemmed, crushed grapes. After natural decantation, the juice was racked with enough turbidity and started fermentation in concrete eggs with natural yeast. It took one month to ferment, then the wine matured in used French oak barrels for 10 months. The fermentation took months and after the wine aged sur lie before bottling without any finning or filtration. The wine is stony, mineral and chalky, very serious and with a long, dry finish. It's a very serious white for the long haul. It was bottled in August 2024.
