COZs de Montexuntos "vp-Vital" '20

In 2015 Tiago Teles and António Marques da Cruz produced two red wines from an estate vineyard called Quinta de Cozinheiros. The vineyard lies just 5 km from the Atlantic Ocean, near the village of Figueira da Foz. 

Before Tiago became a winemaker, he dabbled in wine journalism, and as such, one of his favorite esoteric wineries was Quinta de Cozinheiros. After the passing of the owner and winemaker, the vineyards remained untouched. Tiago and António approached the family, asking to help restore the vineyards and produce wine at the house. The family reluctantly agreed, and COZs de Cozinheiros was born.

While Cozinheiros was a dream project for the duo, they looked to other areas in Portugal to expand. Logistically Tiago lives in Lisbon, and António farther north in Leiria. One midway point that intrigued them both was Serra de Montejunto, a gorgeous, forested limestone mountain range approximately an hour drive north of Lisbon.

After purchasing a 2 hectare parcel, in 2017 they made their first wine called vp-Vital. Produced from the almost extinct Vital grape variety, "vp" stood for the name of the vineyard, Vinha de Pena. At the time it was only the second wine in Portugal made entirely from this varietal. 

Categorically this falls into the "orange wine" world. It is made entirely from the rare Vital grape variety from the single vineyard called Vinha do Outeiro. These are 25 year-old vines, hand harvested, and macerated on its skins for 14 days. Native yeasts are employed, and it is aged in old Burgundy barrels for 11 months.

Pretty aromatics with macerated orange skins, flowers and baking spices. It is really elegant and very vibrant on the palate, with citrus and fresh apricot tones.