João Tavares- Rufia Tinto 2016

The vineyards are not certified organic, but we are farmed under organic and sustainable practices, such as use of copper and sulfur. Flowers and herbs such as chamomile act as fungus repellent. The winery is covered in photovoltaic cells; making us a net exporter of electricity and our wines carbon neutral.

Soil Type(s): Beyond the old granitic soils, this vineyard has also plots with even older origin due to marine sediments, from 500 million years ago, which originated shale clayey rocks soils.

Manually harvested in 15kg boxes then all three grapes are co-fermented on the same day. Wine spends 8-10 days on the skins and spontaneously ferments in open, non-temp controlled stainless steel lagar from ambient native yeasts for about 8 to 10 days, until wine is completely dry. On lees for 9 months after the spontaneous malolactic fermentation occurs. Unfiltered. Minimal sulfur addition at bottling. Not chaptalized, acidified or use of any other additives including enzymes. The wine is aged for 9 additional months in used 400L French barrels.

João will tell you all he needs to make wine is grapes, water to clean his equipment and a touch of sulfur at bottling. He rarely uses products in the vineyard, and when he does he only uses topical organic treatments. In today’s world, this is about as minimal as it gets. João isn’t following a natural wine trend. This is how he and his father have always done it. His wine is proof that a deliciously delicate wine can be naturally made, and this 2016 is a perfect example of the kind of wine João makes.

Venison tartare, Any tartare, Carpaccio, Beets, Green Salad with fresh herbs, Veal

• Russian, Balkan, Polish, French, Northern Italian, Greek