Barbeito Branco Da Laje Sercial 2019

Barbeito is best known for fortified Madeira, but this bottling is a still wine from Sercial, the island's most bracing white grape. Sercial ripens late on cool, high volcanic sites, and the surrounding ocean holds its acidity firm, giving a wine of just eleven percent alcohol built around tension and freshness. It spends twelve months in French oak barrels, an élevage that adds a light toasted frame and a little texture from the lees while leaving the fruit clear and unmasked. The wine is delicate and immediate in the glass, with subtle aromas of peach, green pineapple and yellow fruit. On the palate it is lean and mineral, its orchard and citrus fruit carried by taut acidity and a faint salinity drawn from the island soils, closing on a clean, precise finish with a whisper of oak spice. This is a restrained, detailed white that rewards attention rather than announcing itself. Serve well chilled at around 10 degrees.