2015 Herdade do Esporao Verdelho "V" Alentejano 750 ml

Eclectic Portuguese White from Jean-Georges Cellarmaster

Last Monday night, we couldn’t even get a seat at the bar at Marea. The place was packed to the gills, diners downing bottles of Conterno Barolo, Cepparello, and Costanti Brunello as if the Great Recession never even happened! A few blocks south, at Maguy Le Coze’s Le Bernardin, Meilleur Sommelier du Monde Aldo Sohm worked the room, delighting guests with vintages Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet and Dauvissat Grand Cru Chablis at $500+ per bottle.

No one even batted an eye.

But over on Columbus Circle at Restaurant Jean-Georges, cellarmaster Eric Hastings’ wine by-the-glass selection was more eclectic, filled with sensibly priced discoveries. An exquisite, almost oily Austrian Grüner Veltliner from Erich Berger. A bright, wild strawberry-infused rosé from Domaine de Fontsainte in Corbieres. But the surprise of the evening was an even more obscure white crafted by one of Portugal’s most intriguing estates. The Herdade do Esporão Verdelho was named Portugal’s Best Wine of 2015. Just a sniff, a swirl, and a sip, and we knew why.

In December 2012, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate published a 389-word review for a largely unknown Portuguese red. The 2007 Herdade do Esporão “Torre” stunned Parker, earning a 95-point rating — to our knowledge, the highest score ever attributed to a Portuguese still red wine. As is often the case, collectors followed Parker’s lead, many flocking to the whitewashed villages and gentle slopes of Alentejo, just 112 miles southeast of Lisbon. While the estate’s red wines were all that The Wine Advocate suggested, many found Herdade do Esporão’s refreshing “Verdelho” equally enchanting.

The 2015 Herdade do Esporão Verdelho is glistening greenish-yellow in hue. Piercing aromas of ripe citrus, pink grapefruit, and minerally anise. Wonderfully fresh, vibrant, and saline on the attack, filled with lemon-lime confit and apricot, finishing with excellent persistence and vitality. Drink now-2018. But honestly, WHY WAIT?

$14.50 per bottle. All summer looooooong.