94 pts Wine Advocate
The white 2022 Guru comes from a number of old vineyards, all planted with a field blend of varieties, in the village of Mura. It fermented, by vineyard, in barrels and matured in them, with only 5% new barrels (just to renew them) and a majority of 500-liter onesa far cry from the first years of small barrel and 100% new oak. In principle, it doesn’t go through malolactic fermentation, and the wine has a lot of tension and even citrus freshness, quite impressive for such a warm year. It’s textured and elegant, very nicely crafted and balanced. The wine has a moderate 12.5% alcohol, meaning some plots were even lower (and some higher, of course). It’s approachable now, but it should age very nicely.

I buy this wine every year personally and love it. While it has a real sense of white Burgundy, very Meursault-like, for me it has become a staple of the Douro Valley and the wine has made some major strides in pulling back on the oak a lot since the first vintage I had of the 2010. For me in the character of the wine’s density and minerality, as well as the clean, precise fruit profile signify it’s true terroir expression.

– One of the top white wines from the Douro
– A great lieu-dit Meursault always comes to mind when I taste this, salty, minerally, with some nut and precise citrus and orchard fruits.
– Restaurant PerSe in NYC, poured this by the glass as their answer for a White Burgundy
– Vines are 50 years old, granite and schiste soils
– 2 high elevation parcels in the northern Douro Valley mountaintops to preserve freshness and acidity
– A judicious 6 months in only 30% new French oak barrique, the rest used barrique and tonneau
– Equal parts 4 indigenous and important white grapes:
– Rabigato – Gouveio
– Viosinho – Codega do Larinho