2024 Santiago "Assinatura de Familia" Vinho Verde

After devoting herself to much of her family estate's 110 years of farming for self-consumption and selling excess fruit, 86-year-old Mariazinha issued a challenge to her children and grandchildren: stop selling grapes and start a new wine project. Juggling disparate, frantic city careers, the family came together to honor their mother's and grandmother's legacy and life's work by creating a family mark for Vinho Verde in 2009. With three generations working together and young Joana Santiago at the helm, whose work-ethic and determination mimic her grandmother's, the first vintage was released in 2014. Organic viticulture, traditional winemaking, and letting the native Minho varieties do their work, Santiago's flagship offering is compelling, direct rebuttal to the large-scale approach of Vinho Verde production. Its abundant citrus and ocean air aromatics, enlivened by a gentle, persistent, carbonic zip make it a lovely warm-weather aperitif or companion to spring and summer salads and seafood.