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Chinado Red 2023
18,90 €
It's a fresh and fruity easy drinking red, with smoky undertones, red fruit and a spicy finish, without losing the typical character of Castelão.
| Producer | João Tereso |
| Region | Lisboa |
| Grapes | Castelão (95%) and other grape varieties (5%) |
| Soil | Vineyard - Organic (Uncertified) - Average vineyard age: 40 years - Soil Type: Clay-limestone The grapes come from 5 different plots, picked plot by plot, mostly with Castelão, about 95%, and a few others. You can always find a pinch of Tinta Miúda and other grapes in the mix in most of these vineyards that are 30+ years old. |
| Winemaking | The vision for this Castelão is to make a drinkable red, with no excess maceration or tannin and find the right acid balance. The grapes were de-stemmed, macerated for about 5/6 days with twice a day punchdowns and then pressed into stainless tanks (40%) and used French oak 225, 400 and 500 liter barrels (60%). The wine was racked in spring and then moved to decant before bottling in the beginning of summer. On August 9 the wine was bottled without any fining or filtration (thus you may find some sediment at the bottom). |
| Aging | Stainless-steel tanks (40%) and used French oak barrels of 225, 400, and 500 litres (60%). |
| Capacity | 750 ml |
| Volume | Alcohol by Volume: 12,5% |
| Temperature | 14ºC - 16ºC |
| Harmonizations | Oven-Roasted Octopus with Olive Oil, Garlic, Sweet Paprika, and Sautéed Kale |
João Tereso is a sound engineer who ventured into winemaking in 2017 to save his grandfather’s small plots of field-blend vines in Alcobaça, an hour north of Lisbon, from abandonment. With the guidance of a close friend, local agronomist and winemaker Rodrigo Martins, he learned how to care for the vines. By 2018, he had begun tending to two additional neglected vineyards in the Tojais Valley. These vines, aged between 40 and 80 years, are situated on hillsides at about 150 meters (around 500 feet) elevation and have been farmed organically since 2021. Being just 15 minutes from the Atlantic means that even in early September, when the grapes are picked, nights can be chilly and mornings misty. His wines are crafted with “low doses of sulphur and high doses of care and attention.” Discussing field blends and the labour they require, he often says, “The fun is to live with it.”
He is often asked about the origin of the name Chinado. His friend Claudia, an illustrator and bass player he has known for years, created the original illustration. Along with it came the name, even before the first vintage. ‘Chinado’ is slang for ‘stabbed,’ as ‘chino’ is slang for knife. Some of his wines can catch you off guard and might give you a small nick, in a good way, he hopes. Additionally, ‘chino’ also refers to a stone used to demarcate property boundaries, so a plot marked by stones is ‘chinado.’ For years, he was not concerned with selling or marketing the wines because he was focused on learning how to cultivate the grapes and create the wines he envisioned. When the pandemic finally gave him the time to focus on it, he pulled the drawing out of the drawer. It fit the wines perfectly, and thus the brand was born.
