Winding down the road on the coastline of Zibreira and taking in the stunning views, we could taste the salty air and feel the ocean breeze on our skin. Back in February this year, our team ventured out to Quinta da Boa Esperance with the aim to blend our own wine that captures everything great about seafood and wine.
The beautiful coast of Zibreira is located just north of Lisbon and it is here where the Quinta da Boa vineyards are located, on two Zibreira coastlines both within a 10 mile radius. The stunning seaboards are what gives the grapes its salty influence and why it works so perfectly with seafood once transformed into wine.
After extensive exploration, we chose to collaborate with Quinta da Boa as we felt their values and quality of wine production was very well aligned to that of FishWorks. They are the only wine producer in Portugal that still hand pick their grapes during harvest, which is why you will find on our bottles labelled with ‘Handcrafted’.
For those wine enthusiasts out there, you will be keen to know that our choice of grape variety is exclusive. Our wine is produced with 100% Fernao Pires grapes, specifically using 40% of grapes picked earlier in the harvest and 60% of grapes picked 10 days later. Not only is this unique by being only 1 of 3 wines in Portugal to produce with 100% Fernao Pires grapes, but the combination of younger grapes with older grapes makes this wine one of a kind. The younger grapes provide high acidity and a longer finish whilst the older grapes provide more flavour and depth, giving this combination its distinctive balanced taste.
It is the aromatic character of the Fernao Pires grapes, combined with the ocean and minerality influences of the region that gives our FishWorks wine a smooth personality and crisp freshness. It is the perfect marriage with our delicious seafood.