Grapes
Rufete 40%, Jaen 40%, Touriga Nacional 20%
Profile
Tart fruit, bright aromatics, lots of blueberry and cranberry notes with fresh herb. Medium bodied and full flavoured.
Viniculture
Soil is mainly granite, clay, limestone, and some schist. Soil allows longer growing cycle and a slow ripeness which aids in deeper more intense wine. Organically farmed grapes, with some biodynamic principles being implemented.
Winemaking
Manually harvested all three grapes are co-fermented on the same day. Wine spends 8-10 days on the skins and spontaneously ferments in open, non-temp controlled stainless steel lagar from ambient native yeasts for about 8 to 10 days, until wine is completely dry. On lees for 9 months after the spontaneous malolactic fermentation occurs. Unfiltered. Minimal sulfur addition at bottling.
Wine maker
João will tell you all he needs to make wine is grapes, water to clean his equipment and a touch of sulfur at bottling. He rarely uses products in the vineyard, and when he does he only uses topical organic treatments. In today’s world, this is about as minimal as it gets. João isn’t following a natural wine trend. This is how he and his father have always done it. His wine is proof that a deliciously delicate wine can be naturally made, and this 2016 is a perfect example of the kind of wine João makes.