Carlos Raposo Vinhos Imperfeitos 'Definido' Tinto Dão 2018

Definido is the red flagship of Vinhos Imperfeitos, and 2018 is its very first edition — 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 the region's classics: Tinta Pinheira, Tinta Carvalha, Baga, Touriga Nacional, Jaen and more, co-planted as the old growers intended.

Hand-harvested with a first sort in the vineyard and a second, strict selection at the cellar; only perfect bunches went by gravity into the winery's 1962 cement vats to ferment naturally with native yeasts. The wine was then split — half aged in those same concrete vats, half in French oak — before a barrel-by-barrel assembly.

Bright ruby. The nose is deep, austere and mineral, with floral notes, cocoa and forest fruits — pomegranate, raspberry and a subtle thread of sweet tobacco. The palate is fresh, focused, transparent and pure: discreet and elegant yet weighty and substantial, its tannins remarkably silky for so young a wine, carried on real tension and balance. Drink now or hold.

Region: Dão, Portugal
Grape Varieties: Old-vine field blend — Tinta Pinheira, Tinta Carvalha, Baga, Touriga Nacional, Jaen and others
Vineyards: 60 to 100+ years, granite
Winemaking: Native-yeast ferment in 1962 concrete; aged half in concrete, half in Puligny-Montrachet French oak
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).