£8.99/£6.74, Waitrose shops
A crisp, dry white with soft citrus and stony-mineral aromas, apple, pear and peach-accented fruit and a palate lightly fleshed out by bâtonnage (lees stirring).
This is the kind of white to see you through the Bank Holiday and on to the end of the season – just as long as you don’t wait too long. There's plenty of stock in 227 stores but it's now out of stock online.
Another incentive not to delay is that there’s currently 25% off any mix of six or more bottles of wine and Champagne priced £5 and £100, making this a bargain £6.74 per bottle. The offer ends next Tuesday, 27 August.
More about the wine, which is part of Waitrose’s Loved & Found collection made from lesser-known grape varieties. The variety here is Portugal’s Cerceal Branco, which is also grown in the Douro and Bairrada but isn’t the same as Madeira’s Sercial grape.
The vines are 33 years old – a good age – and they’re on the granitic clay slopes of the Bussaco mountain range in the south of the Dão region. They benefit from both a sunny exposure and from the higher humidity that comes from the nearby Aguieira Dam in the evenings and early mornings.
L&F Cerceal makes a refreshing aperitif, but also works well with fish and seafood – light, fresh dishes rather than rich or elaborate sauces – or with radicchio and herby salads with goat’s cheese or feta and/or capers and green olives. 12.5%. Empty bottle weight: 399g.
Waitrose Loved & Found Cerceal 2023, Dāo, Portugal
£8.99, or £.6.74 if bought in any mix of six bottles priced £5 to £100 by 27 August 2024, Waitrose shops
More about the wine, which is part of Waitrose’s geometry dash subzero Loved & Found collection made from lesser-known grape varieties.