Red Wine

Outrora

Raro 2015, 1,5l

DOC Bairrada

Outrora

By RARO (rare), we mean something unusual, not abundant, or that doesn’t happen very often. This is exactly how we understand this wine, RARO, in the best sense that this word can have. Born from a year that was hot in many regions but in Bairrada produced wines of great refinement, simultaneously delicate and powerful, this Outrora comes from our century-old vineyard located in the Cadoiços valley. It captures what we believe to be the essence of the grape variety and all the splendor it can achieve in special years.

The Atlantic character of the Bairrada climate, together with its clay-limestone soils, endows this grape variety with a unique personality, although it presents significant challenges. In rainier summers, the clay makes handling this grape variety sensitive and a complicated task, where precision in viticulture is crucial, and the harvest timing is dictated by various factors beyond grape ripeness.

This 2015 proved to be early austere but always with a rare purity of fruit and a paradoxically elegant and enveloping demeanor. We knew we were in the presence of something that nature had not yet bestowed upon us, and year after year, we postponed the release of a wine that kept growing, and we believe it will continue to do so for many years. Only nature will tell when there will be a new edition of Outrora Raro.

Vinification: Partially destemmed grapes fermented slowly in a lagar.
Aging: 24 months in French oak barrels (50% new), of 500 l and 228 l.
Bottled in September 2017 and aging in the bottle since then.

Allergens information

Contains sulphites.

V Puro

The partnership between the winemakers Nuno Mira do Ó and João Soares in Bairrada, where the crown jewels are the old vines, began in 2009 with a significant focus on old Baga vines for reds and Bical for whites. Although in some vineyards there are blends with other local varieties. Winemaking is minimalist in terms of intervention but highly differentiated and adapted to each of the different vineyards. The various plots have a different approach in the cellar to best reveal what both believe to be their purest expression. Their philosophy is “one vine, one wine.”

“Quality, terroir, elegance, freshness, pleasure, authenticity, and longevity. These are words that are dear to us, describing what we seek in wines.”

The V Puro vineyards are located in the Cadoiços valley, near Mealhada. The climate is purely Atlantic, with the vineyards only 30 km from the sea, without any natural barriers. The soils are clay-limestone, with some plots being more clayey and deep, and others more calcareous and exposed. The vines are mostly centenarian, and the dominant grape is the old Baga or “Poeirinho.” Viticulture is entirely manual since these old vines are impossible to mechanize.

For whites, used barrels are used for Bical and Cercial, and stainless steel for Arinto, with no addition of yeast and very slow fermentations. They are typically bottled after 12 months of aging on fine lees and then mature in the bottle. For red Baga wines, a variable percentage of whole clusters with stems is used. Some reds ferment in lagar with foot treading, and others in oak vats, with little forced extraction. They age in barrels and vats, usually for 12 to 24 months before being bottled.

“We want wines that are tense, fresh, and complex, with a strong connection to the terroir and a unique personality, and, fundamentally, that provide us with pleasure for many years.