Casa Ferreirinha's `Planalto` Douro Branco is a crisp white wine boasting a lemon yellow colouration with greenish hues. Notes of citrus, tropical fruit, and orange blossom, along with subtle minerality, provide an intense and enjoyable flavour profile. The balanced acidity and concentration of fruit flavours give this wine a clean and fresh finish.

About the Producer

Casa Ferreirinha was the first Douro producer dedicated entirely to making table wines, rather than Port. Its origins date back to 1952 when Fernando Nicolau de Almeida produced the first ever vintage of Barca-Velha and kickstarted the quality revolution in Douro table wines. Named after the legendary Dona Antónia Ferreira, one of the formidable widows of the world of wine, Casa Ferreirinha pays homage to the memory of this visionary woman. Today, the winemaking team is headed up by Luís Sottomayor, who restrains the Douro’s natural exuberance to produce wines that have a vibrant freshness allied to a lovely texture and depth.

Vineyard and Winery

The grapes for this white blend comes from high-altitude vineyard sites in the Douro Valley. The soil in the Douro Valley is schist: a slate-like metamorphic rock that fractures vertically - allowing vine roots to dig deep to access water and nutrients to sustain them through the hot Douro summers. The poor quality of the soil forces the vines to produce low yields of grapes with great concentration of flavour. The Douro is the largest mountainous vineyard area on earth. Due to the steep slopes here, most vineyard operations and harvesting are carried out by hand.

Each grape variety in the blend was vinified separately. Upon arrival at the Casa Ferreirinha winery in Vila Real, the grapes were destemmed, gently crushed and pressed and the must was clarified by static decanting at low temperatures. This was followed by a cool fermentation at controlled temperatures between 16-18°C to retain the aromatics and freshness of the grapes. After fermentation, the wines were kept in stainless-steel tanks for around six months before the final blend was assembled and bottled.