UIVO Renegado Vinhas Velhas 2024

Thanks to its old field blend of 50:50 white and red grapes, whole bunch ferment and skin contact, this is a characterful, provocative light red. Bone dry, fleet of foot, very fresh, Renegado has a delicate bouquet of herbs and flowers to its mineral-sluiced al dente redcurrant and wild berry fruit. This field blend contains over 25 native Portuguese varieties with nearly equal amounts of red and white grape.

Tiago Sampaio is the definition of the avant garde master. He grew up in a wine family in Douro, and had a serious wine education, traveling the world and earning a PhD in enology from Oregon State. His winery is located in Sanfins do Douro, a satellite village of the Cima Corgo in Douro, far north of the river, at an altitude of around 700 meters. Here, he utilizes the freshness of the mountains to make a wide range of low alcohol, minimal intervention wines that have become the benchmark for natural wine in Portugal.

Tiago was an incredibly important innovator in the Portuguese natural wine scene. With the launch of his brand, Uivo, he was among the first in the country to make Pet Nat at commercial scale, and helped reintroduce concepts like curtimenta (skin contact white) and palhete (red and white co-ferment) back into the mainstream.