Description

What am I: Adega Viúva Gomes Pirata Malvasia

Adega Viúva Gomes Colares was established in 1808. Colares is a demarcated wine-growing region defined in 1908. Viúva Gomes is one of the last remaining classic producers in Colares, Portugal’s most idiosyncratic region. 

A clifftop area, bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean, with vines planted directly in ocean-born sands, Colares is unique worldwide. These are some of the only vines in Europe to have escaped the Phylloxera epidemic of the 19^th century. Colares wines are treasured by collectors who seek a vinous window into the true nature of uncorrupted and undiluted old-world wines.

Due to their specific terroir, Viúva Gomes’ wines present a vibrant character. Dominated by sea storms and the southern influence of the Sintra hillsides, it is a temperate region, and creates fresh and salty wines, with a lighter structure and high acidity.

Today, the 4th and 5th generations are working together to keep the traditional Colares wines alive. While respecting tradition, the father and son have also looked forward, embracing creativity by seeking and exploring new winemaking paths. Pirata is the fruit of these new paths.

With this natural wine project, Diogo Baeta seeks to present the coastal character of Colares wines free of additives or undue intervention. The Pirata wines are Regional Lisboa wines, but the vines grow in the same general area as the famed Colares vines and share much of the same climate conditions.

The Pirata da Viúva illustrates the new discoveries on the Atlantic coast of Sintra. An irreverent wine from selected plots of clay-limestone, sustained on free vines and winemaking. This is a single varietal of Malvasia de Colares, aged 10 months in old barrel of chestnut and mahogany. Elegant and sharp.