João Tavares de Pina Joao Eduardo Novais Malheiro Tretas 2019

Alana L rated this wine as 93/100 with the following review:

Chose this wine for a recent ‘live’ tasting with Natalie Maclean before even considering what dinner would be and channeled her ‘pair your wine with the diner, not the dinner’ philosophy that she shared at the @lcbo live the evening prior!

Have to be honest – I love the label of this wine (I know, I know…) but, and I love when this happens, I love what was (yes, past tense, this wine disappeared without a trace over a long virtual dinner with friends last night) inside it even more! It paired beautifully with a tasting menu from Joe Beef in Montreal that included their famous lobster pasta!

Joao Eduardo Novais Malheiro Tavares de Pina Tretas 2019 from Dao, Portugal. Made with 70% Jaen, 20% Rufete (Tinta Pinheira) and 10% Touriga nacional - it’s fresh and fruity with crisp acidity and low tannins - definitely high on the #glouglou scale and deliciously bright and drinkable at only 12% alcohol!

João makes unbelievable wine and I’m so happy that @boires.ca imports them! He lives amongst his vines and is non-interventionist, believing in doing as little as possible in the vineyard and winery: natural yield, manual harvest and blending, native yeasts, low sulphur and no chemicals, no new wood, no fining, filtering, not even temperature control on his reds. The vineyard itself is not tilled, so as to not disturb the biodiversity underneath, and he utilizes native flowers and herbs as natural repellents to fungus, mold, and other diseases with a cover crop that includes chamomile and clover amongst others with indigenous lavender at the end of each row to signal any oncoming disease. The winery is carbon neutral and covered in photovoltaic cells making it self-sufficient for energy.

But beyond all of that? The wines he makes are happiness in a bottle to me!