Antonio Madeira - 2019 - Os Granitos

António Madeira is on a mission to craft phenomenal terroir-focused wines in the Dão. He’s deeply dedicated to the region—his adopted homeland—and has set out to identify and classify its “grand cru” vineyards and preserve its most ancient ones.  Madeira is a Parisian of Portuguese descent with family roots in the Serra da Estrela, mainland Portugal’s highest mountain. In 2011 he produced his first wines after discovering a 50-year-old vineyard in the foothills. He quickly realized he’d stumbled upon gold in the Dão: old vines of native varietals such as Tinta Pinheira, Negro Mouro, Tinta Amarela, and Baga; free-draining granite soils; and excellent sun exposures—all combine to make magical wines. Today, he works with small plots in six different villages and farms organically and manually. All of his wines are co-fermented field blends, using indigenous yeast and very little sulfur. If there’s a throughline in his wines it’d be a touch of salinity and ample freshness, with an earthy quality like the first moments after it rains.

Antonio Madeira Os Granitos is an organic and biodynamic red field blend with 60% Tinta Amarela, Baga, Jaen, and 40% of Alicante-Bouschet, Tinta Pinheira, Negro Mouro, Marufo, Bastardo, Tinta Carvalha, Alfrocheiro, and many others. Natural fermentation with indigenous yeasts. The wine was then transferred to used barrels, where it underwent malolactic fermentation until the following spring and aged for 18 months. Bottling took place in August 2021. It aged for another 2 years in bottle. Barrels (demi-muid) + 70% in stainless steel.