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António Madeira - 2021 - Ainda Palhete

Sale price€26,99

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A historically resonant wine, deliberately crafted as a modern interpretation of the traditional Portuguese Palhete style, which involves the co-fermentation of red and white grapes.

This wine originates from a selection of the Dão's field blends—vineyard plots where red and white grape varieties are interplanted—with one source notably being over a century old, all cultivated biodynamically on granitic soils. The Ainda Palhete is a co-fermentation of red and white grapes, a practice known in the Dão as mistura de castas, where the combined fruit is harvested and vinified together like a red wine. The 100% destemmed grapes undergo a cold soak pre-fermentation before starting an ambient, natural fermentation with indigenous yeasts. The wine sees approximately 15 days of skin contact (maceration) with red and white skins. Following the alcoholic fermentation, the wine is not fined or filtered, and it undergoes an extended maturation process for up to 18 months in stainless steel tanks. This choice of vessel, avoiding oak, is crucial for preserving the wine’s exceptional purity, freshness, and low-intervention character, all while remaining an expression of the region's historical terroir.

In the glass, the wine exhibits a color between a light ruby and a deep rosé, characteristic of the Palhete style. The nose is immediately captivating, presenting a vivid bouquet of fresh red berries—notably wild strawberries and pure cherry—underlined by subtle floral notes and a whisper of aromatic herbs. On the palate, it is defined by its tension and vibrant energy, offering a beautifully pure, live, and intense profile. While it possesses a core of delicious, crystalline red fruit, the wine is carried by a distinct, mouth-watering salinity derived from the granite soils and a bright acidity. It is medium-bodied with fine, smooth tannins. It often shows a faint presence of dissolved carbon dioxide from its maturation in stainless steel, enhancing its delightful freshness and drinkability. This is an elegant, sophisticated wine that is both complex and supremely approachable, offering a unique bridge between a structured white and a light-bodied red.

António Madeira - 2021 - Ainda Palhete
António Madeira - 2021 - Ainda Palhete Sale price€26,99

Learn more about

António Madeira

António Madeira is deeply dedicated to the Dão—his adopted homeland in north-central Portugal—and has set out to identify and classify its “grand cru” vineyards while preserving ancient vines. Parisian of Portuguese descent, Antonio has 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 sulphur. 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.