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Style: Light
Country: Portugal
Region: Dão
Appellation/Sub-Region: Dão
Grapes: Tinto Roriz + others
Vineyard/Cellar Practices: Organically Grown, Low-Intervention/Natural Wine
SO2: Minimal, at bottling
Where Food Meets Its Match: Drink with high acid dishes to enhance the wine's fruit and liveliness; salty foods will enhance the wine’s body and weight on the palate.
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MORE ON THIS WINE
A good bottle quite often begins with a good love story. Such is the case for each bottle produced at Vizinho Vinhateiro, an organic estate located in Dão, a cool-climate region of Portugal with a reputation that’s being repaired in real time. Paul Chevreux and Charlotte Hugel, a young French couple, met while learning together at Graham’s in Porto roughly a decade ago. In 2019, they purchased a traditional Quinta that had fallen into disrepair - a leaky roof, a composting saw-dust toilet, and a large but fairly defunct winery were their housewarming presents gifted from the days of yore. Perhaps the best present of all were the extremely old vines growing on their humble 3 hectares, with most being between 50-130 years old. During the Covid-19 lockdown, they worked tirelessly to repair and restore their winery, culminating in the production of their first vintage in 2021. This is Vizinho Vinhateiro’s flagship wine that pays homage to the historic old-school palhete-style popular in Portugal in the ’60s and ’70s. In an effort to promote and preserve genetic diversity, big field blends are a major focus for the couple. This ‘Clarete’ is a blend of grapes from their own plot as well as fruit from some of their neighbors’ farm, all co-planted fields with extremely old vines. Estimates place this vintage at about 80% red grapes, rounded out by 20% white and grey grapes, all of which are hand harvested into 300 year old granite lagar for a quick, 24-hour maceration. Grapes are foot trodden and the wine is gently pressed and moved into barrels (90% neutral, 10% new) for a year of lees aging. All of their wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered, with minimal sulphur at bottling if needed. Rustic, refreshing, with an incredible amount of versatility, this is the bottle of the season. Perfect for parks, patios, balconies, fire escapes, the list goes on and on. Get outside already! (just don’t forget your corkscrew)