Oxalá - Curtimenta 2023

Orange wine

Sharp, Deep, Al Dente.

Orange wine is quite on trend currently. And as it is (despite being one of the most ancient) a new style, the serious wine folk tend to dismiss it as something of inferior quality. Perhaps with a decent handful of these trendy producers, that is the case, but it is not the case across the board.

The curtimenta from Oxalá is one such wine. One that proves that the style of orange wine is one that is capable of turning out serious quality and that as a style it is here to stay.

Started in 2016 and led by Hugo Campos, Oxalá makes wine from special vineyards across three different spots in the northern part of the Alentejo, between Estremoz and Portalegre. Each one of these parcels has a slightly different soil, ranging from schist to calcareous to granite, and a different altitude giving further diversity to the conditions.

The wines that are made from these parcels are made with delicate care with a focus to retaining freshness and acidity and thus preserving those more subtle nuances of the fruit. 

The grapes for this wine, a field blend of many white varieties with the main ones being Fernão Pires, Roupeiro, Rabo de Ovelha and Perrum, were grown in a vineyard on the west side of the Serra de São Mamede at an altitude of 195m, near the town of Portalegre. 

Once the grapes were ripe, they were harvested but then left in the harvesting boxes for seven days in order to dry out and concentrate. Following this period, the grapes were loaded into a granite lagar where they were gently crushed. Beginning their ferment the grapes stayed in the juice for another 7 day before the wine was pressed off the skins and moved into a steel tank. After the wine had completed alcoholic fermentation it was then moved over to used oak barrels where it rested for a period of 4 months, completing malolactic fermentation.

Wild!