Antonio Madeira Ainda Palhete Dao 2022

Antonio Madeira may have started out a total newcomer, as green as could be back in 2010 hoping to one day make it as a winemaker. Slowly but surely, he built up something special – utilizing vines from a number of different plots throughout the Dao – a region that was once the star wine area of Europe but fell on some tough times during the Salazar dictatorship when wine production was cut way back, and never truly recovered.

Still – with star power like Madiera leading the new generation, there is certainly a lot of hope that the glory days of Dao winemaking are just as much part of the future conversation as they were the past.

“António Madeira is one of the leading quality producers in Dão despite being quite young in the regions. He came back from France and established his operation in Dão in 2010. He has seven hectares of vines spread over 20 different plots, five of them old—50 to 130 years of age—in the villages of Santa Marinha, São Martinho, Paços da Serra, Vales and Vodra e Pinhanços. He works biodynamically but has no certification. The wines are all fermented with indigenous yeasts, with no oenological products and minimal sulfur. He now produces 60,000 bottles—up from 30,000—since he enlarged the winery in 2021, and he grew with entry-level wines from purchased wines. This is the first time his wines have been tasted and reviewed by The Wine Advocate, and it was certainly the coup de coeur in this article.” –Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate