2023 Filipa Pato Nossa Calcario - Bairrada Portugal

If you want to learn about the trajectory of Portuguese wine in our lifetimes, the Pato family is a good place to start. Luís Pato put Bairrada (between Porto and Coimbra) and its star variety, baga, on the world wine map in the 1980s. His daughter Filipa Pato, together with her Belgian chef/sommelier/restaurateur husband, William Wouters, has become a superstar in her own right. They grow and make great quality-price ratio wines from indigenous varieties up and down the price spectrum. Their farming is certified organic and biodynamic. Bical is Bairrada’s white counterpart to baga. Bical 'Nossa Calcário' is 100% bical from a single parcel planted in the 1980s in the village of  Óis do Bairro, prized for centuries for its bical. Soils are limestone (Calcário!) and clay. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts and aging for 10 months both happen in barrels ranging from 500 to 2000 liters. For more information, check out the essay from Filipa on the back label! The wine smells of orchard fru