About The Wine

Xisto Amarelo was born in 2017 from working with the same vineyard over 10 years, Amarelinha vineyard, characteristic from its yellow schist (xisto amarelo), planted in patamares [single- or double-row terraces on extremely steep hillsides] in the beginning of the millennium, facing east and surrounded by forest, with Touriga Francesa as the major variety, along with a little of Tinta Amarela. 2019 was considered 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 11th of September. The warm days and cool nights, in this vineyard, gave very balanced fruit in 2019. During the picking there is an extraordinary work of selection of grapes, so when arriving at the winery there is no selection and the grapes are thrown into a concrete lagar, whole bunch, and foot stomped lightly. Fermentation is spontaneous with very low levels of sulfur and with temperature control. After 3 weeks on the skins the grapes are pressed and the wine goes directly to a 50yo German oak fuder, where malolactic happens and stays over one year and a half aging.