Xisto Cru tinto 2022, Luis Seabra
Region: Douro
Producer: Luis Seabra
Robert Parker Wine Advocate: 94/100 (Luis Gutiérrez, April 2025)
| Volume | 75.0 cl. |
| Grape Variety | Field blend including Rufete, Touriga Franca, Donzelinho Tinto, Malvasia Preta, Tinta Carvalha, Alicante Bouschet and Tinta Roriz |
| Drinking window | 2025-2033 |
| Alc. | 13.0% |
| Vinification | Fermented plot by plot in open oak vats with 100% whole bunches and native yeasts; 22-day maceration |
| Ripening | 22 months in used 228-litre barrels, including malolactic fermentation |
Waar serveer je ’m bij?
For this wine Luis Seabra had a closed wooden foudre built to his own requirements, into which the bunches go whole, stems and all, barely crushed. Whole bunches in a closed vessel give aroma and tension, and the stems provide a firmer frame. Up to twenty-two months in wood follow. Ten years after the first Xisto Cru this is still the most singular bottle in the Douro: structure with a Burgundian line.
Lamb cutlets with mint and lemon
Veal stew with gremolata
Serveren op 16 °C, give it half an hour of air
Drink: 2025–2035
“The top-of-the-range in Douro, the 2022 Xisto Cru Tinto was produced with grapes from two plots of old vines (centenarian) at 450 and 570 meters above sea level planted with the traditional field blend in the region of Cima Corgo—Rufete, Touriga Franca, Tinta Carvalha, Alicante Bouschet, Donzelinho Tinto, Malvasia Preta and others. It fermented by vineyard in open oak vats with 100% full clusters and indigenous yeasts with a shorter maceration time this year, only 22 days. It matured in used 228-liter oak vats where it also underwent malolactic fermentation, for 22 months. It's serious, harmonious, a little backward and shy and has a deep color and a deep nose that is nuanced and insinuating and takes time to open up in the glass. It has contained ripeness and low alcohol for the year (13.5%), keeping exceptional acidity and freshness. The great vineyards behave even in the most extreme years. 7,523 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2024.”
When Luis Seabra told us in 2012 about his plans to make wine under his own name, we signed up straight away. We had known him for 10 years as a winemaker at Niepoort and knew we could not miss this.
More about Luis Seabra →