Carlos Raposo Vinhos Imperfeitos 'Definido' Tinto Dão 2019

Definido is the red flagship of Vinhos Imperfeitos — a fine, precise Dão red drawn from old vineyards across several sub-regions, vines from sixty to well over a hundred years old. A living field blend of Tinta Pinheira, Tinta Carvalha, Baga, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Fêmea, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, Jaen and more, co-planted as the old growers intended.

2019, the first edition. Hand-harvested with a first sort in the vineyard, then a strict selection at the cellar; only perfect bunches went by gravity into the winery's 1962 cement vats, fermented with native yeasts and no additions. Part of the wine then aged eighteen months in French oak while the rest stayed in concrete for malolactic; twenty-four months on, a barrel-by-barrel selection was assembled.

Bright ruby. The nose is deep, complex and austere — a mineral core with floral notes, cocoa and forest fruits woven through the oak. It builds in layers in the glass, elegant but taut, with the freshness and minerality of old vines. Silky texture, firm structure, highly polished tannins; young but balanced and precise, with a long, seductive finish. It will age with real class.

Region: Dão, Portugal
Grape Varieties: Old-vine field blend — Tinta Pinheira, Tinta Carvalha, Baga, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Fêmea, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, Jaen and others
Vineyards: 60 to 100+ years, granite
Winemaking: Native-yeast ferment in 1962 concrete; part-aged in Puligny-Montrachet barrels
Alcohol: 12.5% · Total acidity: 4.9 g/L · pH: 3.8
Vegan friendly: Yes

Carlos Raposo, born in the Dão, studied seven years in Bordeaux and Burgundy before spending nearly a decade as Dirk Niepoort's winemaker, shaping icons like Batuta, Coche and Redoma Reserva. In 2018 he returned home to found Vinhos Imperfeitos — "imperfect is perfect" — a tiny, allocation-only range from centenarian Dão vineyards, farmed by ancestral methods and made with almost no intervention: native-yeast ferments, ageing in Puligny-Montrachet barrels and the winery's 1962 concrete vats. His whites became the highest-scored dry Portuguese whites ever (Decanter, 97 points).