BICAL

NEW!
Luis Pato Vinhas Velhas 2010
$28; 12.5% alcohol; screw cap; tasted 9AUG12; 94 points
Luis The Duck is the pointy end of Portugal.  The notion of a winemaker from the source of most of the world’s cork bark actually putting a screwcap on a bottle is as keen an indicator as you’ll ever get to his fearless disregard of the past.  But put the wine into you and the second set of turbos clicks in, and you realise this is a very fast duck indeed, and it’s pointy in more than just the Portuguese sense.  This is internationally significant. “Bical on chalky-clay soil, Cerceal and Secialinho on sandy soil” says the back label.  These are white varieties. Bical makes up half the blend; Cerceal contributes 30% and the rest’s Secialinho. It’s done in steel. It smells like orange peel.  It has a really plush viscosity, but over a line of very clean, persistent acidity.  By the time it finally slides off the tongue, much of the orange has turned to tangelo and faded, but there’s a lozenge of some hybrid tropical fruit left, something between sapodilla, feijoa and cantaloupe.  It’s a highly satisfying adventure that’s never the slightest bit scary, but is like nothing you’ve had before.  Clean, lean and comforting.  No-one in Australia makes anything like this.  In fact, nobody but Luis Pato makes anything like it. Short of ducking down to the Atlantic shore for bacalhau, take it to Chinatown and find yourself some grilled fish and chilli oil.  Stunning.