25 Jun Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Adega Lucas Amaral 2020 “Cadmarvor” Fernão Pires, IG Açores

Fernão Pires sounds like a man’s name. Maria Gomes sounds like a woman’s name. However, Fernão Pires and Maria Gomes are synonyms for an aromatic white grape variety grown extensively throughout Portugal. The versatile grape is mostly made into dry white wines like the Adega Lucas Amaral 2020 “Cadmarvor” Fernão Pires, IG Açores, the Please The Palate wine of the week.

About Adega Lucas Amaral

Adega Lucas Amaral is located on the Pico island in the Azores. Think of the Azores to Portugal as Hawaii is to the United States. The Pico Island is one of nine islands that make up the Azores archipelago, located 1,000 miles west of continental Portugal. Pico is also one of the three Azorean appellations demarcated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pico is named after the volcano on the island, the highest point in all of Portugal. The terroir includes volcanic terrain and a harsh maritime climate. The vines are planted and protected by volcanic stone walls, called corrals, which protect the vines during the growing season from the winds and harsh terrain.

Lucas Lopes Amaral is the owner and winemaker at Adega Lucas Amaral. At 22 years of age, he is the youngest winemaker in the Azores. His family had grown grapes for generations to sell to local producers, but had never made wine. At the age of 19, Lucas began studying to be a winemaker in the small town of Mirandela in northern Portugal. He also worked at Antonio Maçanita’s estate in the Douro Valley to learn the winemaking trade. When Covid hit, Lucas’s parents offfered him the opportunity to start his own winery if he would return home to Pico.

Tasting Notes of the Adega Lucas Amaral 2020 “Cadmarvor” Fernao Pires, IG Açores

Fernao Pires is used to make dry white wines, as well as sparkling wines and sweet dessert wines. It is also often blended with other Portuguese varieties like Arinto. The Adega Lucas Amaral 2020 Fernão Pires is a dry white wine. It has five years of age on it and is a rich yellow color. Even with the age on it, the wine, with delicate exotic fruit aromas, has intense acidity and minerality with an herbaceous, savory quality. The wine has a long finish, with the acidity lingering at the base of the palate and making the mouth water.

Food Pairing

In general, the Portuguese produce wines that are meant to pair with food. Fernão Pires is a wine that can be paired with fresh foods, like sushi, and especially dishes with an herbal note, like a cucumber dill salad. Other suggested pairings include a Chinese chicken salad, barbecued chicken, or a caramelized onion and feta tart. I enjoyed the wine with two Vietnamese dishes – shrimp Goi Cuon spring rolls and Com Bo Steak.

Where To Purchase

The wine retails for $28 and is available directly from the importer, Diniz Cellars.