Until this year João lived in the middle of his vineyards and placed huge importance on the role this played in his winemaking. This family home was destroyed by the fires, along with over 10 hectares of vineyards that João and his wife Luísa replanted 13 years ago, and much of the surrounding landscape. The only vineyard that survived was 2.5 hectares that had just been grafted. Now, the family are doing everything they can to ensure that its health and ability to produce grapes next year is maintained. A long-time friend of João has also entrusted his 6 hectares of organic vineyards to Quinta da Boavista, having decided to step away from winemaking himself. João’s daughter Inês and her sisters have always been involved in the winery, with different responsibilities, but this year Inês has taken on most of the tasks and is learning as much as she can about the winery and vineyards.
Rufia Branco de Curtimenta 2023 is made with 50% Cerceal Branco along with Encruzado, Síria and a small amount of Malvasia Fina and Bical; it joins a number of other bottles in the Rufia line, a range of young, fresh wines which celebrate minimal intervention and early bottling. The vineyards are situated on granite soil, with plots rich in ancient marine sediments from 500 million years ago. The different varieties were all harvested on the same day in early September, passed through a de-stemmer and fermented together. Two weeks on the skins and around 9 months in stainless steel with primary lees contact before bottling. Enjoy chilled and look out for some exciting new wines inspired by harvest ’24: a white and a red pet nat, as well as a red wine made with Bastardo and Malvasia, aged in amphora.