This time, we are delighted to show you the real and more traditional side of Vinho Verde. Forget about that wishy washy fizzy benchmark style and reset your mind because, guess what? Vinho Verde was all about Curtimenta styles (aka orange wines). And when talking about mastering this, it's impossible not to think of Quinta de Penhó.
 
This is a garage winery on an old family property at the top of a mountain, looking down on a breathtaking valley. With Ricardo Moreira at the winemaking helm, they started producing wines in 2018 following a hiatus of 20 years in the family’s winemaking. The wine is produced as naturally as possible, with minimal intervention, resulting in unique natural wines with very low sulfite levels. Every wine is foot trod, fermented with indigenous yeasts in the traditional granite open vats in contact with their skins, and after pressing they remain over the lees in truly exhausted barrels with no racking, no bâttonage, no filtration, stabilization, or clarification performed.
 
- Verbum Arinto. Arinto is one of the oldest Portuguese native castes (variety). This wine is made in a “Curtimenta” style (skin contact) where the must was fermented in contact with the grape skins and seeds, and macerated for 3 months before going to barrel. The wine was then aged for more than 12 months in used French oak barrels.
 
- Verbum Trajadura is made in a “Curtimenta” style too. The must was fermented in contact with the grape skins and seeds and macerates for 6 to 7 months as Tajadura is way more terpenic than Arinto so more aromatics can be extracted. This orange wine is aged for 6 to 12 months (depending in the vintage, when it’s ready, it’s ready) in used French oak barrels before being bottled.