Nortico Alvarinho 2025 SF Chronicle - Past Pick with a smoky-earthy edge and

with a smoky-earthy edge and ripe citrus core

If you have written off celebrity cuvées

and built for the dinner table rather than the trophy shelf

ripe cassis

Classic Chardonnay from Puligny limestone with a clear sense of place

Nortico Alvarinho 2025 SF Chronicle - Past Pick with a smoky-earthy edge andCross the Minho river south from Spain's Ras Baixas and Albario becomes Alvarinho, the same grape with a different passport, and in Mono and Melgao it finds arguably its finest address. The vines grow in granite and schist, far enough inland to ripen properly while cool nights keep the wine electric. Nortico skips the injected CO2 that gives so much of the region's white wine its spritzy fizz, and what's left is a fuller, more serious bottle with real