Joao Pato Duckman Vinho Tinto "Nerd Duck"

94% Fernão Pires, 6% Baga

From 25 year old vines planted on .15 hectares of chalky soils (Baga) and sandy soils (Fernão Pires). The vineyards are certified sustainable and sorted in the vineyard at harvest time in early September. The grapes are then de-stemmed, spend three hours on the skins and co-fermented spontaneously in plastic lagar that lasts three weeks with no temperature control. The wine is aged in 600L casks for six months. Not fined or filtered.

The Duckman wines express the true character of Bairrada’s indigenous varietals and its exceptional maritime influence. There are no indications of the region on the labels, done intentionally to demonstrate an acute sense of place and varietal typicity through minimal intervention in the cellar. Maria Pato, the daughter of Luis Pato, created this project because of her love of the region and varietals, so much so that she felt constrained by the standards of Bairrada wine making. For both of them only the indigenous varietals can be Bairrada wine, not imports that want to claim it as their own identity. Luis and Maria work from two main vineyards, Amoreira da Gândara which is composed of mostly sandy soils, and Óis do Bairro which is composed of mostly chalky-clay soils. Here they grow both red and white varietals: Baga, Bical, Cercial and Fernão Pires.