Encosta da Quinta is a family estate on Portugal's Atlantic-cooled Silver Coast, where a former civil engineer named Rodrigo Filipe traded blueprints for vines and now bottles his wines under the label Humus.
Backstory
The estate, Quinta do Paco, is a family property of around 20 hectares in Alvorninha, near Obidos. In the early 2000s Rodrigo Filipe left a career in civil engineering to become a winemaker, and he has since worked the estate's vineyards under the Humus name.
The Region
The vines lie in the Obidos area of the wider Lisboa region in southwestern Portugal, set between the Atlantic Ocean and the Serra dos Candeeiros range at around 150 to 200 meters of elevation. The climate is markedly maritime, with cool temperatures and a steady, mild Atlantic breeze that keeps the fruit fresh.
Vineyards and Farming
Roughly 10 hectares of the estate are planted to vines, and the farming is certified organic. The plantings include native Portuguese grapes alongside a few international varieties: Arinto, Fernao Pires, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barocca, Castelao, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc.
Winemaking
In the cellar Rodrigo keeps intervention to a minimum. The Humus wines are made naturally, with no added sulfites, and are bottled unfiltered and unclarified.
The Wines
The Humus range spans whites, rose, reds and sparkling pet-nats, including the Flui cuvees, all expressing the cool maritime character of this stretch of coast.
