Alves de Sousa Personal Reserve White Wine 2012 comes from the production of wines that is a family tradition for Domingos Alves de Sousa: his father (Edmundo Alves de Sousa) and grandfather (Domingos Alves de Sousa) had already been Douro winemakers. But Domingos Alves de Sousa initially embraced another career. Having graduated in Civil Engineering, he could not resist the double appeal (of land and blood), and abandoned his activity in 1987 to dedicate himself exclusively to the exploration of the farms that he inherited and others that he later acquired, in which he has been carrying out model land consolidation and restructuring work on the vineyards. The evolution of its winemaking activity has interesting, almost paradigmatic aspects and deserves a little history.
Quinta da Gaivosa, which has always had a great tradition of white wines. For many years the Alves de Sousa family used their grapes to make white Port wines for some of the most important houses in Gaia. The start of the production of white Douro wines, however, implied profound changes in the vineyards in order to seek freshness and minerality in the white Douros. However, the old white Port vines were still there, at the peak of their maturity. Knowing that the natural character of the grapes was very different from that of a classic white, we thought, instead of going against this natural vocation, why not enhance it? This was the starting point for one of the most unique wines ever created by Alves de Sousa. A wine that reflects a vigorous Douro, the result of the rudeness of the old vines, exacerbated by unusual treatment, but consistent with its unique nature. It is the white Douro of Alves de Sousa Pessoal.