Véspera — The hour before dark. A wine from the granite hills of Dão, Portugal.
Há alguma coisa aqui.
THE LAND
Dão, Portugal
40°32′N 7°43′W · 540 m
Granite. Fog. A wind that comes down from the Estrela before anyone is awake.
THE VINE
Vinha do Cabeço Velho. Planted in 1931. Bush vines that put their roots four metres into the granite and never asked for anything else.
Everything begins here.
- Region
- Dão
- Year
- 2021
- Grape
- Touriga Nacional
- Altitude
- 540 m
THE CRAFT
Eighteen months of oak.
No filtration. No hurry. Stone at 14 °C, and a cellar that smells like a closed church.
Time is an ingredient.
LUME
Nº 0417 / 2 400
Every label is numbered by hand, in the cellar, with the lights low.
— Lume · Touriga Nacional · 2021 —
Act V — The Wine
01 — Weight
14.0 %
It sits in the mouth like a held breath.
02 — Density
0.9962
grams per millilitre. Almost water. Almost not.
03 — Movement
3 seconds
The legs take three seconds to let go of the glass.
04 — Temperature
16 °C
Cold enough to keep its secrets, warm enough to tell one.
05 — Texture
Granite, silk
Fine dust first. Then the silk arrives.
Act VI — The Landscape: land, grape, production, wine
Now you know where it came from.
Act VII — The Collection
01 / 03 — The collection
LUME
Violet, black cherry, a struck match.
Nose
Violet, black cherry, granite dust after rain.
Palate
Tight at first, then long. Tannins like fine-grained sandpaper.
Finish
Cedar, smoke, a cold mineral edge that lasts a full minute.
- Grape
- Touriga Nacional
- Vintage
- 2021
- Altitude
- 540 m
- Alcohol
- 14.0%
- Bottles
- 2 400
Drag to turn the bottle
Act VIII — Tasting
RED FRUIT
Cherry skin. Wild blackberry. Cut at first light, still cold from the night.
SPICE
Black pepper, clove. The heat that arrives late and stays politely.
OAK
Cedar, smoke, warm wood. Eighteen months, none of them wasted.
MINERAL
Wet granite. A cold coin on the tongue.
Four things you taste before you name them
THE NIGHT
When the valley empties, the granite gives back the day.
Lume is opened after dark.
Decant an hour. Say nothing.
The hour before dark.
Some things are only ready at dusk.