Bojo do Luar, "Luiza" 2021

There were murmurings through the grapevine in Vinho Verde, Portugal. While there is not a plenitude of non-interventionist winemakers in this region, there are still more than a few. For Savio Soares – the importer of this wine – Fernando Paiva proved to be one such admirable and priceless producer and contact. Fernando became in recent years so well-known through this region – the first Portuguese winemaker to be fully biodynamic certified by Demeter – that he was able to point Savio in the direction of other near-natural projects. Soon, he was on the banks of the Tâmega river shaking hands with Antonio Sousa. By “near-natural” here is what we mean: biodynamic viticulture (i.e. in the vines) was paired in Sousa’s cellar with conventional winemaking. Given Savio’s enormous breadth of experience around the world (esp. France – Loire & Burgundy more specifically) of non-interventionist winemaking, a match was made and voilà! Bojo do Luar. As pristine examples as we’ve seen of the potential of local Vinho Verde grapes vinified in surprising (for example, prior to fermentation, 1 kilo of ground chestnut leaves per each ton of grapes is added as stabilizer) and always exciting ways – what rich new potential has been wrought. And this bottling is a spot-on representation of the project, casting a modern picture of old-outfittings: rosé pét-nat of native grape varieties showcasing salt, fruit, spritz.

Marco de Canavese, Vinho Verde, Portugal. Mostly Espadeiro, with a bit of the white grape Loureiro, from a biodynamic vineyard site in Felgueiras. The Espadeiro was destemmed and foot-crushed in 100-year-old clay amphoras. The winemaker adds chestnut flowers to the fermenting must as a protectant and a way to minimize the amount of sulphur added at bottling. After blending with a splash of Loureiro must, the wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered.