For 75 years no one knew the Encruzado in the Dão region. But it already existed (also known by Salgueirinho) although it appeared almost unknown among the vine varieties of the region, not being acknowledged its merit. Thanks to the pioneering work of Alberto Cardoso de Vilhena at the Dão’s Center for Viticulture Studies, its endowments were delineated and recognized, becoming one of the greatest Portuguese wine castes. Those who had the chance to taste the white wines of the "Studies Center" and particularly the mythical harvests of 1962 and 1974 immediately perceive the magnificence of the variety. It’s also further known that these harvests were vinified without fermentation temperature control, selected yeasts, enzymes, inert gases and without stainless steel tanks, which is amazing and makes us surrender to the greatness of the Encruzado. If the grape variety is sublime oenologically so is ampelografically, since it has an extremely rare morphological characteristic among the vines, which is to have tendrils in the internodes and not in the stem nodes, as is the norm.
Perhaps that’s the reason why people baptized it with a name that today is known by all Portuguese oenophiles. The virtue of this grape variety is considerable but what makes it unique is the subtle beauty of its wines and its enigmatic and challenging aroma, which intensifies and becomes more complex with time inside the bottle, it’s balanced and its refreshing acidity and flavour complexity gives the wine a sumptuous touch. It’ll not be surprising that true wine lovers will only start drinking Encruzado from the third year onwards and be thrilled when the bottles are opened after ten, twenty or even fifty years as in the aforementioned 1962 harvest. Currently, Encruzado is the great ambassador of Dão's white wines, meeting the real international standard.
The consumption of Dão's wine in the manor houses of the region.
