{"product_id":"liquen-alfrocheiro-tinto-2018-75cl","title":"Liquen Alfrocheiro Red 2018 75cl","description":"\u003cp\u003eDão came relatively late in João Cabral de Almeida's professional career. Vinho Verde was his first and strongest bet, followed by Douro, and only in 2018 did he secure his first winemaking space in Dão. But this was a natural evolution, as his maternal and paternal grandparents were producers in these three regions. João's connection to viticulture was also almost inevitable: of his seven siblings, four are professionally involved with wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eIt was thus, \"pushed\" by his family vocation, and above all by his older brother, Luis Cabral de Almeida, that he graduated in agronomy from ISA, harvested grapes at Esporão, Taylors, Sogrape, and Symington, traveled to Argentina to experience the grapes and wines of the southern hemisphere, and returned to work with winemakers whom he considers mentors in his early career, João Brito e Cunha and Anselmo Mendes. Later, he launched himself as a consultant winemaker and created the company João Cabral de Almeida, through which he produces Vinho Verde, Douro, and Dão wines, based on the selection of vineyards and the acquisition of grapes from locations he considers special. This is how the brands Camaleão (Vinho Verde), Omnia (Douro), and, more recently, Musgo and Líquen in Dão were born. In total, the company already fills 180,000 bottles, with Vinho Verde wines representing 80% of the business volume, but João has high hopes that the added value generated by the white and red wines from the Douro and Dão regions will soon balance this equation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eFor João Cabral de Almeida, the Dão region is coming to an end, representing a return to his roots. He lived in his family home in Viseu until he was 17. Back in his \"nest,\" he now teaches viticulture at the Higher School of Agriculture in that city, and it is there that he and his wife, also an oenologist, Beatriz Cabral de Almeida, are raising their four children.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e João's approach to the world of wine is both simple and complex. \"As a winemaker,\" he says, \"I seek to understand the different locations and collaborate on the strategy to achieve the goals set as a team. As a producer, I aspire to translate the place of origin into a wine with a fresh and elegant profile, with character and a sense of place.\" The Dão region ultimately offers him the ideal conditions to fulfill his purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003e“I believe this is one of the regions in Portugal most suited to producing the wines I'm looking for,” says João Cabral de Almeida, for whom the white wines of Burgundy and the red wines of Saint-Émilion (Bordeaux) are benchmarks. The winery, small but with everything essential, is located in Silgueiros, more specifically in Oliveira de Barreiros, and João works with several vineyard plots located in different sub-regions of the Dão: Silgueiros, Terras de Azurara, Alva, Serra da Estrela and Besteiros. These plots belong to farmers with whom he has established a close partnership, and whom he tries to support throughout the year. The age of the vines varies considerably, but most are between 25 and 40 years old. He also works with two older plots: one about 60 years old where he harvests the white first and then the red; and another over 90 years old where all the grapes are harvested at the same time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eIn his approach to winemaking, João prioritizes used barrels of different origins, cooperages, and volumes, always with the aim of ensuring that the wines do not reveal the wood in their aromas and flavors. Dão Musgo and Líquen vary between blended wines, always field blends, and varietal wines, the latter focused on the region's signature grape varieties: Encruzado, Alfrocheiro, and Touriga Nacional.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e For the winemaker, the main difficulty lies in finding and working with \"the right vineyard.\" \"We are focused all year round on creating the best grapes; then, at the winery, we seek to intervene as little as possible so that nature can express itself to the fullest,\" he concludes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eIn total, João Cabral de Almeida's Dão project is worth around 25,000 bottles. But he hopes to grow, keeping pace with the growth of the region itself. \"I believe that with the new farm producers that have emerged, the region can experience a revolution; and we hope to contribute to the well-deserved resurgence of Dão,\" he says. After all, as you say, where else can you find \"such a combination of freshness, elegance and subtlety\"?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e (Article published in the August 2022 edition of Grandes Escolhas Magazine)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n","brand":"Garrafeira Grande Escolha","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53189997134161,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1000\/4122\/8625\/files\/liquen-alfrocheiro_b0dc625c-a926-4293-8955-c44c134c1137.jpg?v=1772542088","url":"https:\/\/garrafeiragrandeescolha.pt\/en\/products\/liquen-alfrocheiro-tinto-2018-75cl","provider":"Garrafeira Grande Escolha","version":"1.0","type":"link"}