Thank you, angels!

My importer in UK, the Naked Wines, won - beside a lot of others prizes - the SMARTA 100 Business of the Year award, wich includes a 10.000 £ prize. Generous as only they know how to be, the Naked organized a contest: each winemaker had to say what would do with that money, and the Angels (special Naked clients) had to elect one of us to receive the money.

I proposed to use the money to build a refrigerated room to refrigerate the grapes before puting them in the lagars and I had no chance - I´m a small producer, with a small visibility, new on the Naked... and, for my big surprise, I finished the contest in fourth place - the first one after the first ones. And it sounds to me like a victory. I´m sure the people who voted for my proposal didn´t do it by itself, but because they know that the quality is my single patrimony, and it´s on it I have to invest to survive, being so small in an environment dominated by the big ones.

In fact, Douro is an extreme region - few big companies (mostly, british companies focused on Port wine) surounded by thousands of small grape producers. The medium scale wine producers are rare (Quevedo - God bless him! - is one). The small grape producers are completly dependent on the big companies - they make the harvesting when the big companies demand (normaly, too late, when the grapes are dried and light - they pay by the weight) - the payment is made in tranches - the last one, more then 6 months after the harvesting - and the price is fixed by the buyer, who knows the seller doesn´t have any alternative but to accept it. And some of the best grapes of the world are sell by 0.20 euro/Kg. For you to have an idea about how dramatic the situation is, I knew recently that a neighbour, who has a vine biggest than ours, will give up to treat half of it.

He hasn´t a winery.

We have one and our single chance to survive is to make a great wine - who doesn´t have quantity has to sell quality. That´s what the people who voted on my refrigerated room understood. And for some time, thanks to them, my smallness was my strength.

Thank you!

Queridas e queridos amigos do Brasil,

Depois de muitas promessas, agora é real: o Negreiros 2007 já está disponível no Rio de Janeiro. Anotem: Johnny Wine (e-commerce - jwine.com.br); La Botella (Ipanema - labotella.com.br/html/bistro.h​tml); Am/Pm Galena (Ipanema) e Linha Amarela (Barra).
Agora sejam bonzinhos e não causem confusão. Façam uma fila organizada e não se esqueçam do "por favor".
Muita saúde, é o que vos desejo!

I´m very proud to be part of this.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/notes/naked-wines/finalists-at-the-national-business-awards/10150257815549247

À espera / Waiting

Algum (pouco) míldio; alguns (poucos) cachos queimados por 4 dias de sol especialmente inclemente, e muitas uvas saudáveis, lindas e promissoras. A previsão é começarmos a colher à volta do dia 15 de Setembro. Deseje-nos sorte.

Some few mildio, some few bunches burned by 4 days of extraordinary sun and a lot of healthy, beautifull and promising grapes. Harvest start forecasted to around 15th September. Wish us luck.

Povo Brasileiro:

A vossa perseverança dará os seus frutos; a vossa paciência será recompensada e a vossa sede, saciada. Acabo de ser informado de que as minhas meninas (2340 garrafas de Negreiros 2007) estão em (espero) fim de processo de liberação alfandegária. À medida em que surjam novidades vou informando. Saúde!

Medal

Here is the medal won by Negreiros 2007 at the International Wines and Spirit Competition (London) 2011.

The Naked Wines Tasting Tour

With a week of delay here I am to give you news about the Naked Wines Tasting Tour: WOW! Better than the best expectation. A big success of public - I imagine I gave the Negreiros to be tasted for nothing less than 500 people - 500 potencial costumers, 500 potencial beloved people (didn´t you know that the producers love them costumers?). And I heard such beautifull words about Negreiros... I don´t know if it´s something about the british consumers or about Naked clients, but I felt they are very genuine on them assessments, they don´t try to repeat those old and so well known words that the experts use on them reviews, and they - the Naked costumers - use them own expressions.
Nice with the costumers, nice with the Naked staf and with the other winemakers. No stress, no tension, no conflicts. Everybody friendly, and with a great humor - big laughts each 15 minutes, the bigest part of them completly misterious for me because my english is worst than I thought and, even when I found a cause to the laughts I never was sure that it was the same of the other people.
Good times passed with good people around something that is much more than a drink, but the more powerfull cultural instrument to live together.
Cheers!