Arribas Wine Company Belfo Palhete 2023

Arribas Wine Company is a small, boutique winemaking project founded in 2017 by friends Frederico Machado and Ricardo Alves, based in the village of Bemposta in Mogadouro, right in the far northeastern corner of Portugal — Trás-os-Montes, literally "behind the mountains." Their vineyards sit on steep, granite-boulder-strewn hills overlooking the Douro river, just across from Spain's Arribes region — close enough, geographically and spiritually, that they named their project after it.

Both founders cut their teeth elsewhere before coming home: Frederico trained in Enology at UTAD and did harvests with Dirk Niepoort in the Douro, Susana Esteban in Alentejo, and stints in Oregon and Victoria, Australia, before he and Ricardo decided the time was right to build something of their own. Arribas farms old, neglected vineyards traditionally and sustainably, with minimal-intervention winemaking, working to show the world what this remote, underestimated corner of Portugal can really do.

'Belfo' is the local word for someone who talks with their mouth full — and this wine, made from a very old parcel in Peredo de Bemposta, where the soil brings limestone into the mix alongside the usual granite, sets out to express exactly that idea in liquid form.

The 2023 grapes were hand-picked on the 2nd of September into 20kg cases, then whole-bunch foot-trodden at the cellar. After a short 48-hour skin maceration, the grapes were pressed and the juice racked to used French oak, where both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation finished naturally. The wine spent 12 months ageing in barrel, followed by a further 6 months in stainless steel, before bottling in February.

'Palhete Belfo' is made in a traditional regional style — white and red grapes co-fermented together, following age-old local custom. It's an intense rosé, almost dark enough to pass for a light red, meant to be an easy, everyday drinking wine. The nose is fresh and floral with bright fruit, while the palate is juicy, savoury and refreshing — a natural match for cold cuts, roast chicken or a simple rustic soup. Made from a field blend of Tinta Gorda, Tinta Serrana, Bastardo, Rufete, Alvarelhão, Alfrocheiro, Verdelho, Malvasia and others, co-planted together. 12.5% alc.

Every year the label changes to support a different local association. For the 2023 vintage, Arribas partnered with Projeto Água, founded by Dr. António Guillén, which studies the water quality of the Douro through its microfauna and microflora.

This is a natural product, unfined and unfiltered, and may show some sedimentation over time.