Concept.
The Dark is a wine that is done by avoiding contact with light. Much of the whites are made into wine avoiding contact with oxygen, to prevent oxidation, but this also occurs due to light exposure. Since the harvest, through wine, racking and bottling, all processes are done at night, with the least possible light. The bottle is also quite opaque, so the wine is only exposed to direct light when the serve in the cup ... unless we do it in the dark!

Winemaking.
The grapes were harvested at night in small boxes of 20 kg, into the cellar with a temperature of about 12ºC. The varieties were vinified together, being pressed and immediately extracted the juice, not allowing too much contact with the skins. The wine was decanted into stainless steel tanks at low temperature and then was transferred to drums where conlcuiu fermentation. The wine remained in barriques 18 months, and made batonnage in order to promote the contact of the wine with the lees.

Total acidity. 6.8 g / l
Total Sugars. 1.4 g / l
pH. 3.19

Ageing 18 months in used barrels of French oak 300L
After bottling aged 6 months in bottle

After 10 years working in the main producers of the Dao as oenologist region, I decided to follow my life project: take over the management of the farm of my grandfather, Quinta da Mariposa, and produce wines that taste more of the Dão region. The vineyard was planted in 1985 and has always looked like a garden. It has the white varieties and traditional paints and is planted in an area with granitic outcrops and stunning views of the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain of continental Portugal.
Since I can remember, always participated in the harvest. Starting with the harvesting of grapes and ending with treading the winepress, it was all a big family party. Even today the whole family involved in the production of wines, including the smaller ones, which run through the fields and play with the grapes!
Lucia Freitas

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