Pirata da Viúva Branco NV

Colares was once one of Europe’s most prestigious wine regions in the 1930s, but today just 22ha of its ungrafted old vines remain on the sandy dunes in Lisbon’s backyard. Tourism has led to a rise in land prices, tempting many locals to sell their vineyards to developers, and the difficulty of growing grapes has contributed to this shift.
 
However, Adega Viúva Gomes – run by father and son José and Diogo Baeta – exemplifies why Colares is still revered by those in the know. As well as coaxing extra layers of complexity out of vintages from the 1960s through long oak ageing in their cellars, the pair also craft brilliant interpretations of the region's terroirs from new plantings of Malvasia and Castelao bottled under the Pirata da Viúva label.

Planting vines here is not straightforward, as it means digging 4m-deep trenches and directly placing them in the clay that sits under the sandy topsoil. Over the following years the sand is shovelled bit-by-bit back into the trench by hand, stabilising the vine and preventing phylloxera. Propped up by short bamboo canes to keep bunches off the floor and surrounded by windbreaks made of reeds, these vines are grown with techniques as distinctive as the wines they make.

Viúva Gomes’ steely, saline Colares Branco, with its beeswax and preserved lemon character, is aged for a year in French oak, while the silky, vivid Tinto (made from Ramisco) spends nearly a decade maturing in both French oak and Brazilian mahogany to soften its legendary tannins.
 
With annual production for the whole appellation down to a microscopic 6,500L, it’s little wonder that the official Colares wine bottle holds just 500ml, while older vintages from the 1960s hold a generous (!) 650ml. All have a savoury complexity that comes from being perfectly stored in the Baeta family cellars for over half a century.