Nuno Morais Vaz and Daniela Matias are the faces of Geographic Wines, a project still in its infancy, but full of soul and character. His will is to create unique wines that reflect authenticity, social and environmental sustainability, and the preservation and promotion of the different terroirs of Portugal.
Each bottle intends to show, in an authentic and faithful way, the nooks and crannies that Nuno and Daniela explore with enthusiasm.
Nuno grew up with the stories of the Douro region told within his family, which conveyed to him all the love and respect for the winemaking tradition of the region. This cultural heritage awakened in Nuno a passion for viticulture and for preserving the history and tradition of the Douro.
Every year, Nuno travels many kilometers across the country, in search of the perfect vineyard, in a relentless search for that unique terroir, where the combination of soil, climate and grape varieties is capable of producing wines with a different breadth and character.
Daniela is a scholar and enthusiast of the most avant-garde aspect of oenology. Defending it as a non-exact science, she prefers less human intervention, but is always open to experimentation, with the aim of creating geographical wines – local wines. Each bottle of wine is a sensory journey.
Nuno and Daniela follow the maxim that the quality of wines begins in the vineyard and in the cellar intervention is also minimal. And so, Nuno and Daniela continue to believe that less is more, and that simplicity and authenticity are the keys to creating exceptional wines.
They are passionate about the potted vines of the Mirandês Plateau. They are enchanted by the Atlantic influence of the Lima Valley (Vinhos Verdes) and Bairrada. They love the minerality and continentality of Monção and Melgaço.
The Douro “field blends” are the heart of its wines from this region. In the Douro, they thoroughly know each terroir where they work and explore tirelessly for a plot that surprises them. People also count and getting to know each winegrower and friend is also a priority. In its Douro wines, the name Lento says practically everything. Name that tells what comes. Made from vines between 90 and 100 years old, carefully harvested by hand, they result in wines full of precious subtleties, without any use of wood.
The other range is Landcraft, the brand that brings together all the essence, art and beauty of the land from various places in each bottle.
In Vinhos Verdes and Bairrada, they look for shale soils in the Lima valley (Loureiro) and limestone soils in Bairrada (Sauvignon blanc and sparkling base), for the perfect musts for still wines and sparkling wines. They claim to be fans of early harvests, as they allow less intervention in the cellar and safer fermentations.
La Volée Blanc de Blancs is its Brut Nature sparkling wine that brings together several plots and grape varieties such as Cercial, Bical and Arinto in Bairrada. Cercial and Arinto in rich clay-limestone soils and Bical in sandy loam soils.
The wine is vinified in stainless steel, aging part of the batch for 5 to 6 months in old 500L French oak barrels (over 10 years old). All the sparkling wine was degummed in an artisanal way, thus giving rise to the name of the wine “à la Volée”.
La Volée Rosé is a sparkling wine originating from vineyards with more than 40 years of Baga grape variety from clay-limestone soil in the municipality of Cantanhede.
SKETCH, which in its definition represents a quick and informal sketch or draft made to capture an idea or concept, is Pet Nat from old vines in a “field blend” from the Douro on sandy soil of a granitic nature.
Geographic Wines believes that great things are possible in Portugal when shown in an authentic way, where the quality and beauty of the wine come mainly from the vineyard and that this uniqueness is reflected in each bottle.
