The red 2021 Reserva Tinto was produced with a blend of 60% Alfrocheiro Preto and 40% Touriga Nacional, fermented together with uncrushed grapes and indigenous yeasts in lagar and matured in 500-liter French oak barrels for 18 months. It has 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.59 and 5.44 grams of acidity. This is riper and has plenty of tannins that make it somewhat rustic. They picked the grapes at the end of the harvest, what they could do the first year, and they picked the grapes a little earlier the following years. 3,893 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2024.
Domínio do Açor has to be one of the most exciting new names in Portugal in recent years. A group of Brazilian wine enthusiasts led by sommelier Guilherme Corrêa and Igor Beron purchased a historical domaine with 11 hectares of old vines in Dão, in the subzone of Terras de Senhorim. The vineyards are organically farmed, and they are working toward the certification.
The wines are under the charge of winemaker Luis Lopes (previously at Quinta da Pellada), who also has his own personal project, Moreish. They hired terroir consultant Pedro Parra to analyze the soils and Marco Simonit to work on the pruning; they know and are exposed to the greatest wines in the world as they are also involved in a distribution and importing wine company, so with all these ingredients, what can go wrong? They have great vineyards and terroirs, knowledge and vision.
They are producing varietal whites from mineral granite soils—Cerceal, Bical and Encruzado—and reds from Tinta Pinheira (Rufete, “our Pinot Noir"), Jaen and a red blend of Alfrocheiro Preto. The first vintage was 2021, and they produced around 40,000 bottles with such a success in Portugal that they couldn't start exporting. There are nine wines in 2022 and four new ones in 2023, some almost experimental and very small volumes. The unbottled reds are much better than the ones they have already bottled. A project on its way up, very good already, but the best is yet to come. Exciting! Luis Gutierrez.
Organic
