Favonius, Lisboa Curtimenta, 2024

Atlantic-blown skin-contact white from one of Lisboa's smartest new projects. Favonius - named for the Roman god of the west wind that blasts in off the ocean - was started in 2021 by Rodrigo Martins and Pedro Cabanita, working organically with small parcels in and around Bombarral, just inland from the famous Nazaré surf coast. Curtimenta is the Portuguese word for skin contact, and this one rides 90% Fernão Pires with 10% Arinto on the skins for about twelve days, then finishes in stainless. The result is a textured, low-input orange wine that tastes the way it sounds: salty, floral, citrus-bittered, briny. A house-pour orange for people who don't actually like the genre's wilder side.