1995 Quinta do Poco do Lobo "Poco do Lobo" White

[Bradley Bogdan]

Recently imported, $35, clean cork. 100% Arinto

Color is lighter gold

Nose of coffee grounds and butterscotch, with hints of preserved lemon.

Palate is very much alive, with some reductiveness blowing off after a minute or two, leaving more of the butterscotch and coffee funk up front, leading to a mildly tannic preserved lemon midpalate with a good minerality and a slightly more tannic, perhaps leesy? Close. A fun nerdy white that's still kicking, but not the most easy to relax with wine. A score wouldn't mean much since this is so out of the ordinary for me, but if you want to concentrate on a wine, this will be an excellent bottle to have on hand.


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[Andy Velebil]

Cool. Don't see many old whites.


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[Randy Katz]

Been drinking these slowly over time. Still have plenty of life left. Reduced at first, turns to an oxidative style nose with bruised apple, ginger and dried unsulfured pineapple. Palate shows no oxidation, great body and acid balance. Impressive for the age. Drank even better the next day (after argon and fridge storage).

You need to give this at least an hour of air, decant if you can and let it warm to cellar temp before drinking.

[Andy Velebil]

I’ve had a number of these now and some show very good and some are a bit too oxidized. Not surprising given their age. But the ones that show good are quite tasty!

[Roy Hersh]

I realize back in the states, importers are very reluctant to bring in old whites. There is one that does bring in 1990 and 1991 Luis Pato Branco Res. but otherwise, most prefer to stick to fresher versions where complaints and returns will be less likely. Retailers do sometimes feature older PT whites in America, but it is not something often found.

In PT, there are lots of specialist retailers who do carry and occasionally feature older whites. Alentejo has the most offerings of this type, from my experience, followed by Douro, Bairrada and the rare Vinho Verde bottlings. Of course, if you chose to include Colares, there are plenty of the oldies in shops all over the country. Dao whites are harder to find, with age, and I have tried ... early and often. I am a lover of the Encruzado grape, but it is really hard to find any with more than 6-8 years of bottle age. I did find some 2013 and 2015 bottlings last year, but those are not easy to come by, sadly.