From our Importer: The vaulted cliffs of the Duoro-Cima Corgo have nothing in common with the vast flat plains that inspired the pioneering dreams of westward expansion. The distanced traveled here is measured vertically, curvilinear instead of a straight line forward. The horizon is close and sky-high, daunting in very different way. Yet here, where parallel is hard to come by, there is an equal draw for unrealized potential.

On the granite edge of the Távora River, just off the Duoro, GCS was introduced to a different kind of pioneer, Pedro Coelho; a man not intimidated by the change in elevations and less so by the efforts it takes to find his own way. His interpretation of pioneer we found to be compelling. Locked in a land of tradition, he is not looking so much to escape his place, as much as to free the wines from the long-held local trappings. By recognizing what he does not like (the high-alcohol, power and extraction of past days) he seeks freshness, elegance, purity and personality. He does not need to leave home to find this, but his journey requires old-vine with the naturally-balanced raw materials for his exploration. Pedro is all about old vine plots. These are not easy to come by. It takes charm (what Pedro has in excess) to negotiate with old farmers selling (everything overcropped) to the Port houses. And the vines are rarely contiguous, each trip between means an exhaustive fall and climb just to cover, as the crow flies, a few kilometers. Add to his comfort hard, un-forgiving granite, frozen in the wind and remarkably hot in the summer. He has not chosen an easy road.

In short, it takes a sincere “can-do” attitude and the internal drive to go it alone. Pedro seems right at home with this. He is a uniquely solo, cliff-dwelling “garagiste“. We were pleased with the results, all his efforts woven with precision and clarity. Each of his investigations have found something remarkable.

Hats off to our partner, JD Selections, who found him only a few years into Pormenor. We are lucky for the introduction. He will be someone to watch as the old-Duoro is left behind.

From JD Selections:
Winemaking
Ginga is produced from a blend of typical grapes varieties from Douro region. The vineyards with age between 30 and 45 years old, are located in Barcos and Adorigo, planted on schist soil and 450 mts above the sea level.
We pretend this wine to be fresh, light in taste and with a good and pure expression of fruit and most of all, very easy to drink.
The grapes are picked early for the region in order to achieve a good balance between ripeness, natural acidity and a contained alcohol content. After careful selection at the sorting table, the grapes do a carbonic maceration in stainless steel tanks, with the whole bunch not destemmed before being pressed. After this process, the wine is aged in stainless steel tanks until bottling.
Fermentation was natural, with indigenous yeasts. As per all our wines minimum human intervention during the cellar work is achieved by avoiding any kind of additives.
Ginga is a naturally stabilised wine, unfiltered in order to keep is full expression, and for this reason it may create a deposit in the bottles. The potential but residual presence of a natural deposit in any way affects the quality of this wine.

Tasting notes
It has a very open, crystalline and bright red colour with a very fresh aroma of red fruit. On the palate, it shows a light structure with a juicy tannin and lots of red fruit, as well as a lovely acidity.
It has a very pleasant personality but at the same time relaxed, fresh, with lots of fruit and, above all it shows very easy to drink. Please drink this wine with a good company, lots of fun and good mood. Drink it slightly chilled, taking the risk of becoming addictive.

Place your order online for same-day pick up in-store.

For all orders over $50, we offer free local delivery within a 10 mile radius of each respective Shop in Morris and West Hartford.

We ship wine to many states. UPS Ground is our preferred third party carrier.