Mary Taylor Dao Branco

2023 Mary Taylor Dao Branco

• Encruzado/Malvasia Fina/Bical/Gouveio
• From producer Lucia Ferreira
• Year-round white bursting with balanced flavor
• 93 Points—John Gilman

This little Portuguese stunner has become one of our most anticipated arrivals every year. Mary Taylor has assembled one of the most reliably excellent stables of import values, we’ve come across in recent years. All they need is a little faith! Even if you’ve never heard of Encruzado or Goureio, you’ll love how beguilingly fun this wine is while still regaining enough seriousness to make you question how can be this affordable!

Mary Taylor works with small producers who would otherwise not have the wherewithal to label and export their wines. Many, like today’s feature, are hand harvested, fermented with ambient yeast and rested on the lees for a couple weeks before going into stainless. The result is a charming white that shows a waxy richness with good minerality, white flowers and tropical fruit.

93 John Gilman: The 2023 Dão Branca from Lúcia Ferreira is crafted a cépages of thirty-five percent Encruzado, thirty-two percent Malvasia Fina, nineteen percent Bical and fourteen percent Gouveio. The wine is fermented with native yeasts and raised in stainless steel tanks. The wine’s bouquet is bright and impressively complex, wafting from the glass in a mix of green apple, fresh lime, salty, stony soil tones, lemongrass, white flowers and a touch of citrus peel in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, vibrant and precise, with a superb core of fruit, outstanding soil signature and grip, a lovely spine of acidity and a long, impeccably balanced and complex finish. This is outstanding juice and an absolute steal for its price tag! 2025-2030+