If anyone can care for and grow healthy grapes in a climate so heavily influenced by the Atlantic, it is none other than Fernardo Paiva. The pioneer of biodynamic farming in Portugal is a true phenomenon in the way he manages not only the vineyard but also his wines in the winery. Since 2007 he hasn't put in sulphites which he has replaced with his...
How can you find the perfect harmony in such a light wine? And yet this is the hallmark of Quinta da Palmirinha wines. Palmirinha Azal is a benchmark for the region, elegance of aromas, freshness, lightness but not lightness of style, and uniqueness in character. A wine for which it is difficult to put into words its aromatic and flavour dimension. It...
Loureiro is the most important variety for the Vinho Verde region and in Paiva's hands it is celebrated. Portugal's first biodynamic winery doesn't stop its approach just there but takes a minimalist approach to the winery where it doesn't cloud its wines at all. He protects them by adding ground chestnut blossoms from his estate to the must, an idea that...
What a great label. It's worth a thousand words and captures at once what Dão really is. A wall made of granite, the rock of the mountains of the region and the figure of an old woman walking with the help of a cane but with great courage and determination. How better to describe the Portuguese countryside and the dedication of people like João Costa to...
The stunning field blend vineyards are located in the tiny isolated village of Santa Ovaia (where the winery is located) and harbour classic Portuguese "values" such as Fernão Pires, Bical, Malvasia-Fina and Encruzado among other varieties. The 500m altitude and the 45-65 year old vines on granitic soils give the wine both freshness and depth. The...
85% Malbec and 15% Merlot to bring down the youthful "rigor" of the blend from organically cultivated vineyards on gravel and limestone soils with clay. The grapes are vinified in stainless steel tanks at relatively high temperatures with very careful cap breaking, and each individual vineyard plot after being vinified separately will be blended in the...
Patchwork comes from five different vines with the oldest of them planted in 1962. Fermentation is spontaneous and maturation takes place in 228lt French barrels, 10% of which are new. Burgundian style, closer to the nerve of a Puligny-Montrachet, with expressive fruit around a core of tobacco, yeast and minerality. Medium-bodied, elegant and lacy on the...
The movement was so natural, so exquisite in its gentleness, it wasn't until I opened my eyes that I understood my limbs were touching only air. I was not far off the ground - no more than an inch or two- but I hung there without effort, suspended like the moon in the night sky, motionless and aloft, conscious only of the air fluttering in an out of my lungs. I can't say how long I hovered like that, but at a certain moment, with the same slowness and gentleness as before, I eased back to the ground.
![When in Burgundy [Part 4]](/modules/amazzingblog/views/img/uploads/posts/22/cc/2-604335dd23cef.png)
