Quinta do Pinto, Reserva 2014

Careful vine management to enhance all the fruit potential. Handpicked grapes into 20Kg cases followed by an exhausted selection of bunches in the cellar. Alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts for 14 days in a temperature range of24-28C, followed by malolactic fermentation and ageing for 12 months in second and third year French oak barrels. After the ageing process, the barrels were tasted one by one, and amongst them, 35 of the best barrels were selected according to this elegant profile.

'Quinta do Pinto' is the name of the wine project established at a property called Quinta do Anjo - around 100 hectares surrounding a 17th Century manor house near Merceana, in the heart of the Lisboa wine region. 63 hectares of this family-owned estate, 60km north-east of Lisbon and just 20km from the coast, are planted with nearly two dozen grape varieties (both indigenous and international, although it is the local varieties that take priority) producing a number of different ranges including Vinhas do Lasso and Quinta do Pinto. Many of the best wine estates in Lisboa are found here, in the Alenquer region, amongst the rural villages with their whitewashed windmills and houses, and historic buildings. Quinta do Pinto's vineyards are found between the slopes (facing south and west) of the Montejunto mountain - which offers some protecion from the cold Atlantic winds - and the River Tagus. Wine produced here two centuries ago was regarded as very high quality - and worth more Pintos (the gold coin in circulation at the time) than other local wines. Pinto also was also the name of a charismatic foreman at the property, and by a happy coincidence, is the surname of the current owners! The Cardoso Pinto family have five generations of winemaking and vinegrowing experience. António Cardoso Pinto fell in love with the property on his first visit, and his eldest daughter, Rita, manages the winery along with her two siblings - Ana and Francisco. They follow a traditional winemaking philosophy of minimal intervention; use only indigenous yeasts, and carry out fermentation in concrete tanks.