Mateus Nicolau de Almeida "Eremitas Antão do Deserto" Douro, Portugal 2021

FROM THE PRODUCER:

THE WINE: Eremitas are wines made from the same variety, Rabigato. Each wine comes from distinct parcels but they all come from the Douro Superior (Mediterranean / Continental climate), south facing and are in schist soil from the Desejosa Formation presenting small rocky and altitude differences. Although vinified in the same way this parcels create different wines! It stands out the “telluric information” that each place transmits.

The grapes go directly into a calcatórium (granite basin) followed by a 3 hours foot trodding. We press them in a vertical press were the juice runs by gravity to croncrete vats in the underground cellar with optimal natural temperature and humidity. Spontaneous fermentation is done without temperature control. The wine ages 1 year in concrete tanks.

THE PRODUCER: Mateus is the fifth generation of the Nicolau de Almeida family to produce wine in the Douro. Together with his wife, Teresa Ameztoy, they work in a wine cellar they call Shad’s Winery (Alosa Alosa), named after the fish that crossed the Douro River from the Atlantic Ocean, a reality impossible today due to the construction of the dams.

In this cellar they give us different perspectives and approaches to the vineyard and wine, based on organic and some biodynamic farming.

They present us 3 sets of wines. The Trans-Douro-Express, seeking to show the climatic characteristics of each sub-region of the Douro: Baixo Corgo, Cima Corgo and Douro Superior. The Eremitas, white wines made with the same variety but from parcels with different soils, and, finally, the Curral Teles which are the result of different vinification techniques.

All this in an underground wine cellar, dug in the schist, done with the help of our friend Pedro Jervell, creating an unusual aesthetic where nature and man meet.