Producer story

João Afonso

João Afonso, Cabecas do Reguengo, Alentejo

João Afonso spent the best part of his adult years travelling around the world and dancing with the prestigious Ballet Gulbenkian, before becoming a wine writer, and then eventually making wine himself. He bought a semi-derelict farm in Reguengo in 2009, surrounded by abandoned old vineyards. Only the most resilient had survived and João carefully cultivated these into the idyllic agroturismo it is today.

When João and his daughter Inês are not tending to the chickens, they are making tiny amounts of delicious wine in their garage. Tucked away 500m above sea level in the Portalegre region of Alentejo — a region known more for its bold red wines — the altitude, and João’s intuitive approach to making wine, gives their wines oodles of freshness and drinkability. His wines have a freshness and liveliness to them that we love, much like the man himself.

Try: Respiro Tinto, 2016

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