Producer
Luis Seabra may be a new name on the Portuguese wine scene, but he has already had a hand in crafting some of the Douro’s most exciting wines, working as Dirk Niepoort’s right-hand man from 2004 until leaving to set up his own label in 2012. He is starting small, releasing two whites and one red, with a total production of just 5,000 bottles per wine. Winemaking is minimal-intervention, and the style very much reflects the concentration of care lavished by this experienced winemaker on his tiny output. Luis Seabra is certainly a name to watch, but has also hit the ground running with a stunning début.
Vineyard
The grapes come from vines between thirty and sixty years old planted on schist soils. They produce low yields of around twenty-five hectolitres per hectare. The grapes were hand-harvested.
Winery
Thirty percent of the grapes were fermented over eight days with all their stems in an old stone port vat. The rest were fermented in vat, also with their stems, for twenty-five days. The wine was then aged for a year in old burgundy barrels and afurther five months in tank. Minimal sulphur addition was made at bottling.
