Name: Azores Wine Co. - Rose Vulcanico
SKU: 2613914
Availability: OutOfStock

Azores Wine Co. – Rose Vulcanico

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Portugal

Azores

Wine

Rose

The Facts

Origins Portugal > Azores

Appellation Pico

Varietal Red Blend

Cepage 100% Rose Blend

Winemaking Hand harvested to 40kg baskets, heavy triage, then racked to small stainless steel tanks until December. No maceration, free run and direct press. Spontaneous fermentation with wild yeast.

Markets California

The Character

Tasting Notes Pale salmon pink, with edges running to orange. Aromas of wild strawberry, sea spray, blood orange and sour cherry comingle with iodine, black pepper and oyster shell. On the palate, clean, fresh flavors of strawberry and watermelon are carried by high toned minerality and persistent salinity. Thirst quenching and stunningly easy to drink.

Pairings Seafood, shellfish

The Story

Just one short decade after launching Fitapreta Vinhos in sunny Alentejo, António and two other partners founded the Azores Wine Company on the island of Pico (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) after becoming inspired by their shared work recovering the indigenous Terrantez do Pico varietal—not to mention António’s many childhood trips to his father’s Azorean homeland. The initial bottling of Terrantez do Pico made a splash in the wine world, receiving a top score from Wine Spectator, and a mention in their article “Breaking the Mold” in 2016. António and his partners own 100 hectares of extremely low-yield, walled vineyards (primarily on Pico) and purchase fruit from an additional 30 hectares across the archipelago, from regions such as DOP Graciosa, São Miguel, and others. These sites range from sea level to 500 meters in altitude, with the oldest vines averaging up to 80 years. It is from this stony volcanic terroir that according to Antonio, “these singular, saline wines are born, or should we say, erupt.” On cold and wet Pico Island, vines struggle to escape the volcano’s rain shadow grasping for sunlight along the island’s edge, where 500-year-old volcanic stone walls (known as currais) are all that stand between the plants and dangerously salty Atlantic winds. Making wine on Pico, according to António, is a constant “battle between the sea and the mountain” and he is one of very few who have succeeded in achieving ripeness in red grapes here.
25% Saborinho, 25% Agronomica, 25% Aragones, 25% Touriga Nacional. Sustainably grown tiny plots (2 to 6 bush trained vines per square) planted in 1991 in volcanic soil at sea level.