Quinta da Serradinha, "Arinto e Ferno pires" 2018

Though the process of achieving “certification” for your agricultural practices is often marred by byzantine administrative humdrum & Kafkaesque stupidities, it is still worth noting – and maybe even moreso because of this typical setup – that Quinta da Serradinha was the first viticultural estate in Portugal to receive organic certification in 1994 (though, again, it had been worked in such a manner for a very long time before the proverbial blue check mark). The current custodian of the estate – and who became the first person in his family to dedicate himself to wine full-time – is António Marques da Cruz. Since falling for the craft of winegrowing while helping his father out in the early aughts, António fully took over the reigns for his first solo vintage in 2008. Working outside the city of Leiria on Portugal’s central coast, the Serradinha operation is in a kind of viticultural wasteland, an area plagued by rural depopulation & the concomitant shuttering of agricultural activities, notably wine. As their importer Louis/Dressner reports, “Though the area used to be ‘an ocean of vineyards,’ the waters have seemingly run dry; two of the three big coops of the area refcently closed and according to Antonio, the third isn’t too far off. The closest neighboring agricultural estate is 4km away.” Serradinha, or “Little Mountain” does analogistically represent something close to its name, in this way, for the region it calls home: though it is a small estate, it stands out against the nearby viticultural landscape, and therefore, finds a unique spot on the horizon. Its range is defined by the lower alcohol levels  possibly achievable in such a cold, wet environment where disease and ripeness seem like the perennial questions of the day – salty, textural delights are produced here with the particular aspect of an ecosystem fed by Atlantic churn & coastal wetlands. The kinds of winsome bottles that make you fall very easily in love with this corner of Portugal.

A salty & textural blend of Arinto & Fernão Pires from Lisbon, Portugal. The grapes get four days of skin contact followed by aging for one year in neutral barrels. Unfined, unfiltered, no SO2. Sidenote: Each bottle is topped with a tiny wooden ladybug as an homage to the winemaker's father.