Every big decision made in life requires you to take a breath, take a step back and listen to what you really want. That "breath" came for João Costa and his partner Bea during the coronavirus. The young oenologist always had in the back of his mind to make his own wines and somehow in 2020, in the midst of Covid, the Beiorte project was born, in an isolated village in the Alva sub-zone inside Dão. There, in a mountainous, steep area, with scattered small vineyards, on granitic terrain against the Serra do Açor mountain range, they decided to revive João's grandfather's old cellar and exploit the wealth of the region's old field-blend vineyards left untouched by temporary fashions and trends.
Beiorte means wine in the local (Arguina) dialect, a plagiarized word that used to be used by mine workers so that their bosses would not understand them. And the word Beiorte Gido (good wine) that each cork bears when a bottle is opened refers to Costinha's intention to make good wine. An artisan approach that wants to highlight the purity and authenticity of the great local terroir, to "resurrect" vineyards that the old vine growers gradually abandoned and to preserve a "genetic" heritage that has not been tempted to change because of ephemeral trends. If the philosophy reminds you of something from the approach of our beloved Iliana (Malihin) you are not wrong.
Dão is an area that deserves as much attention as our own Santorini, Etna, the Sierra de Gredos in Spain, Itata in Portugal and other areas out there. And Costinha (his nickname) is for Dão among those working hard to regenerate a great wine region. He belongs to a generation that is "guarding" its traditions and heritage and is revolutionizing the Portuguese vineyard with wines "big" in quality and price that still tread the earth. And he does all this in his minimalist cellar, with a vinification reminiscent of the Dão of the 50s without any interventions and with a lot of personal work in the vineyard and cellar. And the joy that every bottle we open of his wines brings us is contagious and fills us with energy to keep searching for the "diamonds" of the Portuguese vineyard.
