Use my current location
Region: Portugal
Grapes: Vinhão, Bastardo, Espadeiro, Borraçal, Arinto, and Loureiro (Red and White Blend)
Alcohol: 12%
Biodynamic - Unfiltered - Spontaneous Fermentation - Low Sulphites
Notes on the Wine
A low-intervention blend of field blend of 70% red varietals and 30% white varietals grown on granitic soils and hand-harvested in early October. The Vinhāo and Borraçal are macerated for five days, followed by spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel with all varietals. Ground chestnut flowers are also added to the fermentation process here as well to help stabilize the process. Only 15g/L of SO2 is added at bottling. An unfiltered and chillable red!
This is a blend of five wines vinified separately: Vinhão (25%) five day whole cluster maceration, then pressed; Borraçal (20%) destmed and macerated for ten days, then pressed; Bastardo (15%) destemmed pressed and kept with the skins for three weeks; Arinto (25%) fermented in concrete and kept on the fine lees until February; and Loureiro (15%) fermented in stainless steel and kept on the fine lees until February.
At the end of the fermentation, Vinhão had 11.5 g/l of total acidity. It was electric and blue; the Borraçal also had above 9g/l of total acidty and fine red flower aromas; the Bastardo was smokey and spicy in character; the Arinto is the wine with lowest acidy in the group at 6g/l. It adds vibrant zestiness and citrus characteristics, and the Loureiro was the last addition with its perfumed aromatic characteristics and silky texture.
Notes on the Producer
The Bojo do Luar project came to life during a trip Savio made to the Vinho Verde region. Here he met Fernando Paiva, a biodynamic producer who has been experimenting with adding ground chestnut flowers to the grapes and must before fermentation began. Meanwhile he’s halted using SO2 altogether since 2017.
Fernando is a regional reference for non-interventionist winemaking. He was the first Portuguese producer to acquire the DEMETER certification and through him Savio met another producer, Antonio Sousa, who practiced biodynamic viticulture, but still used traditional and conventional winemaking methods in the cellar.
Savio was undeterred and saw this as an opportunity: to use the traditional autochthonous varietals of Northern Portugal, and apply his knowledge and experience of many decades working with French producers, mainly in Burgundy and Loire. With Antonio’s winemaking experience and openness to experiment using a non-intervention approach in the cellar, the Bojo do Luar wines started to take shape. The region has a mostly cool temperate climate throughout Spring, then very warm days, and cool nights until the harvest in September. Five red grape varietals and three whites were chosen for their natural high levels of tartaric acids and low PH.
The parcels are located near the Tâmega river, with deep granitic soils and south-southwestern exposure, not too far from where it empties into the Douro River. Each grape varietal was vinified separately in stainless steel and concrete. As stabilzer, one kilo of ground chestnut leaves was added per each ton of grape, before fermentaiton starts. There was minimal intervention throughout the entire process in the cellar. Once the blend for each wine was defined, only 10g/l of SO2 was added at bottling.
