We’ve had Portugal on our minds again lately. It’s the theme of this month’s wine club, and earlier in February we hosted an incredibly deep dive into the country and its transformative wines.

We also held an in-store tasting that, tbh, felt electric in our community. It was a lineup from Douro Superior’s new-to-the-US Dona Berta – and with everyone still buzzing about it, we’re sharing more.

Dona Berta is the latest in a set of eye-opening producers to redefine Douro for us. An area famously warm, and even more famously known for its history deeply rooted in Port production, it’s increasingly become a source for stunning, perception-bending wine.

But, it’s an important distinction that today’s wines are not just from Douro; they are from Douro Superior. This easternmost subregion, where the larger Douro valley rubs the border with Spain, is overall hotter, drier, and far more remote. Here, pre-phylloxera ancestral varieties thrive in schist soils, with a touch of elevation and radiant sun exposure.

As a result the wines are so elegant; more finessed and vinous than most neighbors to the west. And, like so many of our favorite Portuguese wines: accessible with an extremely high value-to-price ratio.

Centenarian vines at Dona Berta; photo via Vinhos Dona Berta

Our friends at Portuguese importer NLC Wines put it perfectly: “Every sip tastes like it should, full of character and stories of the land.”

Dona Berta is a 15ha estate founded by Hernâni Verdelho, an engineer who in the 1980s returned to the family vineyards where he spent his childhood treading grapes in traditional granite lagar, and watching his great uncle’s wines rest in large macacaúba wood vats. His work saved century-old pre-phylloxera vines from demolition, and now his grandchildren carry on the legacy.

The family vineyard; photo via Vinhos Dona Berta

The wines are an exceptional peek at ultra-classic Douro Superior: complex, lithe and fascinatingly delicious.

The whole lineup is here: traditional method bubbles (with age!), a textured skin contact Rabigato, an intense single-varietal Tinto Cão, and a sublime pre-phylloxera blend.

2017 Dona Berta, Espumante Reserva Bruto Rabigato, Douro, Portugal $43
100% Rabigato made via traditional method, spends a year on the lees. Champagne-meets-Portugal; it's structured and bright with tightly-knit bubbles, and aromatics that bring a marzipan-quality richness.

2022 Dona Berta, Reserva Curtimenta Rabigato, Douro, Portugal $34
The Rabigato variety is the bell-ringer for the emerging high quality white wines from Duoro, and this bottle is certainly no exception. Done in the 'Curtimenta' (skin contact) style, it sees 8 days of skin contact and 10 months in oak. This is not orange wine; rather, it's an elegant, textured, almond-scented skin contact white.

2020 Dona Berta, Reserva Tinto Cão, Douro, Portugal $35
100% Tinto Cão, aged a year in barrel. On the richer end of the lineup but still beautifully balanced by bright mulberry fruit.

2018 Dona Berta, Vinhas do Avo Reserva Tinto Douro, Portugal $55
A blend of their oldest vines, in an 100+ year old own-rooted vineyard. In the area's field blend tradition, it includes hyper-local native varieties like Cornifesto, Bastardo, Casculho, Tourigo and Tinta Raiz. Aged 10 months in French oak, followed by an additional year in stainless steel. A truly standout bottle, elegant and intensely complex.

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