Fita da Fitapreta

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FitaPreta is António Maçanita’s estate winery located outside the ancient Roman city of Evora, set among the sun-drenched hills of Alentejo. Founded in 2004 as a partnership between António and the British viticulturist David Booth, FitaPreta has since evolved into a benchmark estate for the New Portugal, frequently earning Antonio accolades like “Winemaker of the Year.” António works only with indigenous varieties and ambient yeast ferments, crafting wines that are keenly representative of Alentejo, but with a balance and freshness that few others in the region have been able to match. Painstaking vineyard work, nighttime harvests and entirely gravity-fed winemaking are elements of António’s process that yield wines that are “full of sun,” as he says, but with lift and elegance instead of cloying power and over-extracted fruit. António operates on the Portuguese idea of “Palpite,” or intuition, to communicate terroir, with a foot firmly planted in both camps of tradition and modernity. He allows each parcel to ferment slowly and separately, combining the final blend to showcase a tapestry of the landscape of Southern Portugal. Each markedly different, but with a throughline of elegance and purity, the broad scope of the wines he creates at FitaPreta is a testament to his inquisitive intellect and fastidious attention to detail in his winemaking processes.

WHAT MAKES THIS WINE UNIQUE?

Fita da FitaPreta stands out against commercially produced wines from Alentejo since it is composed from only the highest quality fruit from hand harvested, mature estate vineyards and vinified with minimal intervention. The three varieties are fermented separately and expertly blended for an exuberant, lifted expression of sun-drenched Alentejo.

GRAPE:

50% Aragonez (Tempranillo), 30% Touriga Nacional and 20% Alicante Bouschet

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS:

This is a versatile wine with lush primary fruit that pairs well with coffee crusted prime rib of beef with roast fingerling potatoes, blue cheeses like Cambozola to Roquefort as well as aged cheese and charcuterie.

VINIFICATION AND AGING:

Hand-harvested from sustainably farmed 12-50 year old vines. Gentle gravity fed movement through winery to maintain integrity of aromatics and structure. Native yeast fermentation. Varietals vinified separately with 14 day skin contact. Aged in 50% stainless steel and 50% conditioned French Oak barrels for 10 months. Vegan.

LOCATION, SOIL, CLIMATE:

This wine comes from the Fonte Santa, João Paulo, and Vale do Cepo vineyards in the towns of Bencatel, Vimieiro and Redondo in Alentejo. Alentejo sees 3,000 hours of annual sunshine and 600mm of annual rainfall, less than 15% of which falls during the growing season. These vineyards are planted to rocky schist at 300-400m elevation.

TASTING NOTES:

Rivulets of violet compliment a deep ruby core. Floral and fruit aromatics of violets and black raspberries on the nose, with lilting notes of toast and spice. On the palate, lush and ripe, with abundant fresh black currant berries and brambleberry. The mid palate shows the minerality and a touch of smoke, with considerable length.

ALCOHOL CONTENT:

14.5%

UPC CODE:

5600301740367

BOTTLE WEIGHT:

2.7lbs (1.2kg)