January 2025 Blanco y Branco Club

Mas d'en Blei 2017 Clos Martina, Priorat Regular Price: $34.99 Club Price: $ 29.74 Buy Now

We featured a red wine from this estate, Mas D'En Blei, in our Tinto club back in November of 2024.  Mas D'En Blei, exotic as it sounds if you don't know Catalan, simply means "Blei's Farm".  It is a farm thought to be dating back to 1756 (found inscribed on old buildings), and has been lovingly brought back to life and is now a thriving estate with multiple different vineyards.  If you'd like to learn more, we'd ask you refer back to the writeup for our November 2024 Tinto Club here.   The grapes for this unusual white come from one of their vineyards called Clos Martina.  And if you ever wondered why SO many wines from Priorat have the word "clos" in them, I found an answer (assisted by the ever increasingly useful AI).  The word "clos" means "enclosure" in French and Catalan, and refers to the fact that many vineyards were enclosed for the following reasons:

In Priorat, I believe it's simply become a term for a special vineyard or plot, which is the case here.  

The wine itself is a highly unusual blend:  Garnacha Blanca (84%), Pedro Ximenez (10%), and Pansal (6%).   While Garnacha Blanca is very common in Priorat and the surrounding areas (Montsant, Terra Alta), the Pedro Ximenez grape is usually only found in Southern Spain, where it is made into a very sweet Sherry of the same name or into oxidative whites (fino-style sherries).  And Pansal?  A super exotic grape only found in Clos Martina?  No, extended research assisted by UC Davis' grape library turned up that Pansal is another name for the Xarel-Lo grape common throughout the Penedes, where it is key ingredient to most Cavas. This blend, as you will shortly learn, is key to the wines very different taste profile from many of the Garnacha Blancas we taste. 

The blend of wines together with the wine's barrel fermentation makes for a super-unique white.  I initially had chilled it WAY too much, but this ended up being a fun way to essentially taste two different wines along the temperature curve.  Very cold, the wine's citrus-y pithiness dominates.  Think grapefruit pith and very faint grilled meyer lemon dominating nose and palate, accompanied by toasty oak.  It is quite interesting to see how strong of an influence the "Pansal", or Xarello seems to have.  In the noste, the wine is very reminiscent of the still Xarello wines from the Penedes.  And, a recent tasting of non-oxidative white wines made from Pedro Ximenez taught me that PX has a bracing acidity and freshness that shows up here as well.  With both the Xarello and the PX, a little seems to go a long ways, especially when the wine is colder.  As the wine warms up, the nose swings towards more warm vanilla, spices (nutmeg), and toast, while the palate takes on more honeyed, warm pear or apple tart notes. The Garnacha takes over! Interestingly, we (or maybe it's just me?) are conditioned to expect richer, oily wines with this level of oak, but Clos Martina stays brutally lean and fresh (and all this in a white that's going on 7 years old!!).  This makes for interesting, almost challenging pairings with food.  It surprisingly withstood a butternut squash curry (not ideal, but good as an extreme pairing) - here, the bright citrus notes were a nice palate cleanser in between bites.  It did not like to be paired with a rich cheese like Gruyere.  It was much more at home with a chalky, leaner cheese like Garotxa or a fresh goat cheese like Caprichevre.  I found its sweet spot to be a pairing with semi-rich seafood, think seared scallops or seabass. It would also be great with a truly seafood-only Paella or Arroz Negre. If the mouthfeel of Albarino combined with the nose of an oaky Burgundian wine sound intriguing, this may be your new favorite white wine.  

Freire Lobo 2023 Vigno, Dao Regular Price: $22.99 Club Price: $ 19.54 Buy Now

Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of folks coming into the shop after spending time in Portugal – some even stay part of the year there and work remotely. Though most head over only thinking of Port, but they quickly realize Portugal’s wine scene is way more exciting and diverse than just sweet reds.

Beyond Port, Portugal is producing some seriously good wines – crisp whites, refreshing pinks, and bold reds that show off the country’s different regions and long winemaking traditions. Vinho Verde gives you those bright, mineral-driven whites, while the Douro brings those deep, structured reds. And honestly, the pink wines popping up all over are just plain fun to drink. There’s something for everyone.

What makes Portugal even cooler is that they stick to their own grapes. Touriga Nacional, Arinto, Castelão, Baga, and Alvarinho. These aren’t grapes you’ll find much outside of Portugal, which makes every bottle feel like you’re tasting something unique to the place.

And, Portuguese wines are a steal. Even their top bottles are priced way lower than what you’d pay for similar quality from other parts of Europe. Regions like Dão and Alentejo are making wines that could easily stand up to more famous names but at a fraction of the price.

One winemaker who really stands out is Elisa Freire Lobo. She runs Freire Lobo, a small winery in Oliveira do Hospital in the Dão. Elisa got her start working with Alvaro Castro at Quinta de Pinhanços – one of Portugal’s best – but she’s also been farming her family’s vineyards since the beginning. In 2010, she took over full time, becoming the first female winemaker in the region!

Elisa’s vineyards sit at the base of the Serra da Estrela mountains, and she’s as traditional as they come – foot-stomping the grapes and everything. Her goal is simple: let the wines tell the story of her family’s land. She spends most of her energy in the vineyards, keeping things as natural as possible. Sheep handle the weeding and fertilizing, and she avoids chemicals entirely. Even in the cellar, she keeps it low-intervention, letting native yeast handle fermentation and only using a touch of sulfur at bottling. Her wines feel alive, and you can really taste the place they come from – they’re honest, delicious, and worth seeking out.

VIGNO Branco is a fun field blend – Encruzado, Bical, Cerceal, Fernão Pires, and Barcelo and a little Malvasia! No oak here – just quality fruit, and the result is this light, super fresh white that really shows off the granite soils of the region. It’s crisp and a little floral. I’d pair this with whatever feels bright and fresh – fish, salads, veggie dishes – but honestly, it’s one of those wines that works well with Conservas de Peixe (canned fish), I'm a fan of the Jose Gourmet smoke small sardines in extra virgin olive, look for it on our shelves!