Techsheet - Moreish 2013

History has taught us that Dão belongs to those places that Man has long-recognised as exceptional for producing great wines. Despite its enormous potential to produce red and white wines, it is a region that continues to stubbornly remain out of the limelight.

António Madeira, who is French of Portuguese descent, has his roots in the foothills of Serra da Estrela. Since 2010, António Madeira has been researching, the places in this sub-region, that our ancestors elected as the best for vine, those that we might call the «Grands Crus of the Dão highlands» and found a series of old vines that are distinctive because of the authenticity of their grape varieties, the characteristics and nuances of their granite soils and sun exposures.

2013 was a year of long and good maturation. Fortunately in our case, it was achieved harvesting all the grapes in the last days before the week of heavy rain that occurred at the end of September.

Luis Lopes, winemaker at Quinta da Pellada, has been helping me to make the wines from the beginning of this adventure. Luis has played a key role in this project. Luis is a great friend and also one of the most talented winemakers of the new Portuguese generation. Open-minded, educated, wise and humble. A person who seeks to make wines as naturally as possible. We share the same philosophy.

After the end of malolactic, Luis tried to make the most thrilling blend with my 2013 red barrels. It resulted in a barrel. Later, each time we tasted that barrel, we thought it would deserve to be bottled separately. It was what we did.

I told to Luis to choose the name of the wine and to design the label, because this would be "his" wine, in order to honor his talent and all the support he has given me since 2010. Luis chose the name « Moreish », a word that perfectly expresses what we feel when we drink this wine.

VINIFICATION

The vinification philosophy was to respect the grapes and nature and focus on seeking the expression of the terroir of Serra da Estrela, thus, no other product was used except sulphur.

Alcoholic fermentation took place in open vats with traditional treading and began naturally, with the yeast from the vine itself, to express its identity in the purest form.

Very little extraction was sought. After pressing, the wine made the malolactic in stainless steel and then went into a used french oak barrel in which it aged for 12 months.

Bottling took place in July 2015.

TASTING NOTES

High ability to age, wine focused on its terroir. Open 1 to 2 hours before drinking. Subtle aroma, complex, tough cherry, bush. Elegant and silky mouth, full of energy, fresh and tense. Stimulates buds. Very Moreish !

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

PRODUCER : António Madeira          REGION : Dão – Serra da Estrela          SOIL TYPE : Granite

VINEYARDS : 3 small old vineyards          AVERAGE VINE AGE : from 50 up to 120 years old

GRAPE VARIETIES : Field blend of Jaen, Tinta Amarela , Baga (75% with these 3 varieties) and 20 other native grape varieties

ALT. FROM SEA LEVEL : 500 m          PRUNING METHOD : Guyot          

HARVEST PERIOD : End of September 2013          HARVEST METHOD : Hand picked

FERMENTATION : Indigenous yeasts, open vats with controlled temperature

MALOLACTIC : Used barrels         

AGEING : 6 months in stainless steel tank followed by 12 months in used French oak barrels (225 L)

BOTTLED : July 2015

 ALCOHOL : 13.6%          PH    3,62          TOTAL ACIDITY (G/L)    5,91          

VOLATILE ACIDITY (G/L)    0,69

FREE SO2 AT BOTTLING (MG/L)    16          TOTAL SO2 (MG/L)    46         

RESIDUAL SUGAR (G/L)    0,6

VOLUMIC MASS (G/ML)    0,9911

PRODUCTION : 288 bottles

FOOD SUGGESTIONS : Lamb, duck, codfish.