Quinta da Carolina

DouroPortugal

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Luis Candido da Silva Jr, head enologist/wine director Dirk Niepoort’s still Douro program (as of 2023), made his first vintage at his father’s Quinta da Carolina in 2015. Facing north, this certified organic vineyard is a massale selection field blend of more than a dozen varieties grown on steeply terraced, hard blue and yellow schist bedrock and topsoil with some river sediments. Though managed and worked by Luis, fruit is also purchased (for Xis and El3mento) in higher altitude vineyards just south of Quinta da Carolina, further up into the apex of the area. Luis’ immensely different range of field-blend wines ferment spontaneously, often with stem inclusion and foot stomping. A variety of aging vessels are employed from old French oak, inox, amphora, and 1100L 60-year-old German oak fuder.

Quinta da Carolina - 2021 Elemento, Tinto

Price: $45.00
Size: 750ml
Availability: 

Out of stock

Type of Wine: Red
Grape(s): A blend of indigenous red varieties
Style: High acid, Mineral, Medium Body, Elegant and Aromatic

GROWER OVERVIEW

Luis Candido da Silva Jr, head enologist/wine director Dirk Niepoort’s still Douro program (as of 2023), made his first vintage at his father’s Quinta da Carolina in 2015. Facing north, this certified organic vineyard is a massale selection field blend of more than a dozen varieties grown on steeply terraced, hard blue and yellow schist bedrock and topsoil with some river sediments. Though managed and worked by Luis, fruit is also purchased (for Xis and El3mento) in higher altitude vineyards just south of Quinta da Carolina, further up into the apex of the area. Luis’ immensely different range of field-blend wines ferment spontaneously, often with stem inclusion and foot stomping. A variety of aging vessels are employed from old French oak, inox, amphora, and 1100L 60-year-old German oak fuder.

VINEYARD DETAILS

El3mento is a partnership between Luis Candido da Silva and the Gran Canaria cult-famous winegrower, Carmelo Peña Santana. The grapes come from a 1.3ha 100+year-old rented parcel on a soft slope facing north at 500-550m on yellow/brown schist bedrock with a 40-50 cm schist and alluvial topsoil.

CELLAR NOTES

Whole-bunch fermentation and maceration with no extractions for 6 months in 1000L clay amphora then 6 months in steel. No filtration or fining.

About The Wine

El3mento is a partnership wine made with Carmelo Peña Santana, that since they met each other in university, they had a dream to make wine together. After 5 years of planning and designing the wine, El3mento was born in 2017 from a centenary vineyard at 600m of altitude in the area of Barcos – Tabuaço in the Douro Valley. The second El3mento was made in 2019, a dry year in the valley, with rain showers when the plant most needed them, was a perfect agricultural year, with medium high productions and very healthy grapes, picked on the 23rd of September and on the same day selected and processed into a 1000L clay amphora, whole bunch and lightly foot stomped. Fermentation was spontaneous, and maceration post-fermentation was from September 2019 to May 2020—8 months, a very high risk process, and that’s why El3mento is not released every year. In May 2020 the grapes were pressed to a stainless steel vat, where the wine stayed until April of 2021. It was bottled without any adjustment, filtration, whatsoever.