Manz Douro 2015

The Manz family moved to the quiet village of Cheleiros, on the west coast of Portugal, in 2004 and immediately fell in love with the people and the landscape of a place famous for its hills, like Douro, and small land parcels like the Azores. From the locals, André Manz discovered the important wine tradition that had made the village famous in the 19th century and, following that discovery, the ManzWine project was born: to recover that tradition and reputation. André started by buying a small vineyard with an unknown variety of grapes called Jampal. The specialists advised him to replace it, saying “The variety is good but the productivity is low…” Facing these opinions, André replied “But I don’t want to produce a lot of wine. What I want is good wine! Let’s try it this year and, if the result is not good, we’ll change it next year!” But the result was surprising, with an out of the ordinary white, causing a sensation among all who tasted it. The enthusiasm of having something unique made the project continue with the recovery of Jampal and also of the older and most important red grape varieties. Following the motto “More quality and less quantity!”, ManzWine also turned to vineyards in the highly-regarded Portuguese regions of Alto Douro and Palmela.