Beiorte Sr. Roubado Tinto 2022

Sr. Roubado Tinto comes from the old mixed vineyards of Santa Ovaia, the village where the Beiorte cellar sits — vines planted around 1960 and 1980 at 500 metres, south-east facing on granite with a little clay. Tinta Pinheira, Baga, Trincadeira, Alfrocheiro, Jaen, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional and Castelão grow together with other old varieties of the Dão.

The label carries a very old photograph of a vineyard that belonged to João Costa's great-grandfather in Santa Ovaia — one the family never got to harvest, as it burned in the great bushfire of 2017. João keeps the image, with the silhouette of the Açor hill behind, as a tribute to the land, to his great-grandfather and to the landscape, and uses it for the wines made from the village's own grapes.

Picked on 17 September 2022 after a very difficult, rain-hit season. Destemmed, fermented in an open lagar with wild yeasts and no temperature control, ten days on skins, then pressed slowly in the estate's vertical press. Aged 15 months in a 500-litre oak barrel and a further six months in stainless steel, and bottled on 22 June 2024.

Region: Dão (Alva sub-region), Portugal
Grape Varieties: Old-vine field blend — Tinta Pinheira, Baga, Trincadeira, Alfrocheiro, Jaen, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Castelão and others
Vineyard: Planted c. 1960 and 1980, 500 m, south-east facing, granite with clay
Farming: Organic, with biodynamic principles (uncertified)
Alcohol: 11.5%
Total acidity: 5.44 g/L  |  pH: 3.58  |  Total SO₂: 50 mg/L (CVR Dão analysis)

Beiorte began in 2020 when João Costa ("Costinha" to his friends) and his wife Bea returned to Santa Ovaia, in the rugged Alva sub-region of the Dão beneath the Serra do Açor, and revived his great-grandfather's small cellar — once used to make wine for the region's taverns in 500-litre barrels. Their aim is artisanal wine of purity and authenticity, made from old vineyards whose ageing owners were letting them go, preserving the Dão's ancient genetic heritage untouched by fashion. "Beiorte" means wine in Arguina, the old stonemasons' dialect of the village; every cork reads Beiorte Gido — good wine.