Luis Pato Vinhas Velhas Branco 2023

Maria João Pato comes from a family of contrarian winemakers that have been pushing the envelope in coastal Portugal's Bairrada region for some time now. She is the daughter of the legendary winemaker Luis Pato, who put the Bairrada on the map by sticking to native local grapes like Baga and Bical when most were abandoning them. Her sister Filipa Pato has her own biodynamic winery started 2000s. Though Maria has been in charge of winemaking at the Luis Pato estate since 2017, you may know Maria from her other label made at the same winery, Duckman, with it's outlandishly louche labels featuring photos of a giant pink duck, which she says represents her grandfather, João. He was one of the few Portuguese winemakers to bottle his own wine back in the 1950s, an extremely rare occurrence in that period of Salazar's dictatorship when virtually all wineries were cooperatives and nothing was exported.  The Vinhas Velhas Branco is a blend of equal parts Bical, Cerceal, and Sercialinho from vin