In my last review, I highlighted a sparkling Vinho Verde from Portugal and I’m going to continue the theme of Portuguese bubbly today with a sparkling rosé.
Filipa Pato comes from a family that’s been making wine for five generations. Rather than just working in her family’s vineyard, she set out to study winemaking in other parts of the world and returned to Portugal to start her own winery in 2001. The focus of her vineyard is to express the terroir of the Bairrada region, located in the western part of the Beira province (south of Porto & Douro). As a part of expressing the Bairrada region, Filipa Pato also has an interest in preserving the prevalence of Baga, a native grape in the region.
Bairrada and Baga are two of the “B’s” that were inspiration for the 3B name of this wine. The other B comes from Bical, another Portuguese wine variety. As you might guess, this bubbly is made from these two grapes, 50% Baga and 50% Bical. However, I like to think the 3B’s are bubbly, beautiful and blissful.
Filipa Pato refers to this wine as a “Traditional Method” rather than a “sparkling wine” and hopes Portugal eventually adopts a regional name for sparklers, similar to Cava in Spain.
Back in October I spent a week in Portugal and I was continuously coming across this wine in restaurants, along with the other Filipa Pato 3B sparklers. In addition to the Rosé they have a Brut Nature and a Blanc de Blancs under the 3B name. I did have a chance to taste the Brut while we were in Portugal and it was very good, although I didn’t take formal notes on it. I spoke to a number of folks in Portugal about Filipa Pato’s wines and she appears to have quite a following there. Fortunately, we’re able to get these wines in the US too.
The color of the 3B Rosé is a beautiful light pink. It’s soft on the nose, with light yeast, mineral, rose and strawberry aromatics. The palate is quite dry, with firm mineral flavors complemented by lemon and light raspberry. The mouthfeel is fantastically bubbly. It’s a very tasty, mineral-centric sparkler.
Wine: Filipa Pato 3B Rosé
Variety: 50% Baga, 50% Bical
Vintage: non-vintage
Alcohol: 11.5%
Rating: 89
Price: $18
Find Filipa Pato 3B Rosé with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.
