Quinta do Montalto Não Condenado 2021

Profile & Story

Quinta do Montalto is a family estate in the Ourém region of central Portugal, near Fátima, that has belonged to the same family for five generations; since 1997 its roughly 15.5 hectares of vineyards, planted on clay-limestone slopes under the Encostas d'Aire designation, have been farmed organically. This style of wine, sold in the US market as "Não Condenado" ("Not Condemned"), is known on the estate's own site as Medieval de Ourém: a red made by an ancestral palhete method traced to Cistercian monks who settled in the Ourém region in the late 12th century. It is produced by co-fermenting 80% Fernão Pires white must with 20% Trincadeira red must — pressed and destemmed separately, then combined so red skins and fermenting white must finish fermentation together in wooden vats and barrels.