Description

What am I: Vitor Claro Domino Salão Frio Tinto

Vítor Claro was a force among Lisbon area chefs from 2010 to 2016, having restaurants in downtown Lisbon as well as Cascais. It was through a partnership with Dirk Niepoort that he gave Vitor a taste of winemaking life. Over time, Vitor came to crave the rigor and agricultural demands of winemaking more than the cuts and burns of the kitchen, and eventually, he gave himself completely to viticulture.

Focusing at the beginning on almost hidden, almost forgotten plots of old vines in the hills above Portalegre, in the Serra de São Mamede, Vitor and his wife Rita wanted to show a different face of the Alentejo – a fresher face, with bright fruit, levels of moderate alcohol, and the clear influence of the mountain’s altitude. Its first wines were made in the small village of Salão Frio in Serras de Portalegre.

With his drive to discover and restore more of Portugal’s old and sometimes abandoned vineyards, his portfolio has grown to include wines from Arruda dos Vinhos, Torres Vedras, Sintra, and more recently Carcavelos – a name that brings wine magic along with it. for those who know its history.

Vitor Claro Domino Salão Frio Tinto is made from field blend varieties Grand Noir, Alicante Bouschet, Aragones, Trincadeira, Arinto, and Tamarez. These grapes come from 50-80 year old vines in the village of Salão Frio.

The wine is made by crushing whole bunches, which are then macerated and fermented with all solids for 10 days. It is then pressed and fermented in concrete tanks and decanted after each winter.

The 2020 vintage was bottled in April of 2022.

2200 bottles.