2024 Luis Pato, Bairrada Branco Vinhas Velhas

Luis Pato’s 2024 Vinhas Velhas Branco is an exercise in regional transparency, blending Bical from Bairrada’s traditional chalky-clay soils with Cercial and Sercialinho grown in sandy parcels. Pato utilizes dry-farming and manual harvesting to harness the specific structural contributions of each variety, emphasizing the interplay between the weight of the clay-dominant "barros" and the high-toned acidity of the "areias." The vinification is technically precise, employing a gentle press and maturation in stainless steel to prioritize architectural clarity and mineral depth over stylistic artifice.

The 2024 growing season—defined by a rainy winter and a tempered summer with significant diurnal shifts—preserved a high degree of nerve and energetic acidity, yielding a wine with a lean, saline-inflected framework. This vintage is characterized by its fine-grained texture and a focused mid-palate that directly reflects the cool, maritime-influenced terroir of the Bairrada region. The resulting wine is a balanced, persistent expression of old-vine fruit, built with the necessary tension for immediate precision and long-term development.