Vadio Tinto Bairrada DOC 2016

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

Baga grapes har­vest­ed from clay-lime­stone soils cre­ate the typ­i­cal Bair­ra­da wine fla­vors. Through man­u­al har­vest­ing at dif­fer­ent times of dur­ing the har­vest sea­son, the wine­mak­ers at Vadio are able to con­trol the mat­u­ra­tion lev­els present in their wines. Extrac­tion is done very gen­tly, and the bar­rels for their tin­to wines are aged for a min­i­mum of 18 months. This wine is fresh and del­i­cate on the palate, with an acid­i­ty that shines per­sis­tent­ly, accom­pa­nied by soft, pol­ished tan­nins. It tastes of cher­ries and mixed berries, with a hint of stewed plum. 

PAIR­INGS

In Por­tu­gal, Bair­ra­da wines are the sin­gu­lar part­ner for the nation­al fish, bacal­hau. These wines are also often drank with octo­pus or squid in red wine sauce or fresh grilled tuna. If you pre­fer meats, this is an offal-friend­ly wine, espe­cial­ly with kid­ney or liv­er. Pork roasts and lamb stews also go well with this wine — and if you’re look­ing for that bit of dairy, bring out a block of blue cheese. We rec­om­mend Long Claw­son Pot­ted Blue Stil­ton DOP

LOCAL TO THE REGION

Vadio Win­ery grows about 70 per­cent of their wines right in their vine­yards, but because of high demand, they also take in Baga grapes har­vest­ed from small­er grow­ers in the area. Their goal is to be com­plete­ly self-suf­fi­cient by 2030. And they’re not just big on pro­tect­ing their wines; Vadio also con­tributes to the main­te­nance of region’s bio­di­ver­si­ty, car­ing for the sur­round­ing flo­ra and encour­ag­ing nat­ur­al, organ­ic tech­niques in their vine­yards to keep from pol­lut­ing the area.

Storage Instructions

Store unopened red wines in a cool, dry, and dark place safe from con­stant vibra­tion. Keep your bot­tle hor­i­zon­tal in a wine rack or cel­lar to retain the moist­ness of the cork. The ide­al tem­per­a­ture for stor­age is between 16 to 18°C. Once opened, a bot­tle will be good for 3 to 5 days stand­ing upright in the refrigerator.