Luis Seabra Vinhos Mono A 2019

Luis Seabra made his name as winemaker for Niepoort, before leaving to set up his own project in 2013. Seabra’s idea was to make uncompromising wines: the sort he wanted to make, without thinking about what the market wants. He wanted to create authentic expressions of these regions and makes field blends, rather than straight varietal wines, from the old vines that pepper the area. This is an authentic single varietal wine, from Alfrocheiro, an indigenous Portuguese red found in Dão and Alentejo.

Winemaking is low intervention, with wild yeast ferments. The reds are now 100% whole bunch, and he aims for low extraction, though leaves the wine on the skins for up to a month, with gentle extraction. These are wines of balance and finesse – definitively the “new” old Portugal and his wines are becoming ever more in demand.