The wine world is replete with cases of inhabitants of big cities – in this specific case, Paris – who at a certain point of their lives, tired of the urban routine, decide to abandon the big city and take refuge in the countryside, devoting themselves to the art of winemaking. The case of Ricardo Moreira falls exactly into this category, but instead of settling himself in any wine region of France, in 2017 he has chosen, after serious thought, to return to to his original land, Celorico de Basto, in the heart of Minho, the Portuguese region famous for its “vinho verde,” with the clear intention of giving new life to the family property and make wine there for the first time in 20 years.
Ricardo’s personality is based on well-thought-out ideas and strong convictions, something that is systematically challenged in the Basto region by heavy rainfalls, an occurence that defies one’s willingness to intervene minimally in the vineyard, i.e., making wine without adding or removing anything from what nature has to offer us every year. Another challenge has been the gradual expansion of the vineyard area, which has to be in consonance with the sustainability of the ecosystem and the biodiversity, because in Quinta do Penhó the vines cohabit with more than one thousand trees (such as platanus, oak, cork, pine, olive, and other fruit trees), through which meander a diversity of wild animals like deers, wild boars, kites, ravens, thrushes, partridges, foxes, rabbits, snakes, and all kinds of insects.
As far as the work in the cellar is concerning, all the grapes are stomped by feet in a 300-year-old granite “lagar.” Fermentation occurs naturally by the action of indigenous yeasts, and the wines are aged in stainless steel tanks and used French oak barrels. Ricardo is not really fond of bâtonnage and with the exception of small amounts of sulfites before bottling, no chemical products are added to the wine.
