Summary
Antonio was born in Paris in 1978. His father fled Salazar in 1970 from their family home in the Dão. Antonio grew up in France and, after Salazar’s brutal regime had long passed, he returned regularly to their home in the Dao. He studied Engineering and began working in France. On one of his summers in the Dao, he fell in love with the woman who would become his wife. She moved with him to Paris and they began a family. In Paris, Antonio was slowly getting fascinated by the top wines of France and the burgeoning Natural Wine movement. He began to think that his home in the Dão could be a great candidate for making top natural wines with tremendous elegance and class due to the granitic soils, high elevations, and old vines of the region. In 2010, Antonio began to make wine in the Serra da Estrela sub-region of the Dão and in particular near the village of Santa Marinha. Initially, the family continued to live in Paris and only came to the Dão for harvest. Antonio’s father-in-law helped him manage the vineyards and winery during the other times of the year. Finally, in 2017, Antonio and his family decided to move to the Dão full-time to live and make wine.
Over time, Antonio has assembled an estate of 8 Hectares with 20 separate plots of vines in 6 different villages within the Serra da Estrela sub-region of the Dão. Of these 8ha, he owns 6ha outright, but also rents a total of 2ha where he oversees all the farming. In total, his parcels contain over 45 different indigenous varieties. He works all his parcels biodynamically and plows his vineyards with horses. This hands-on work is labor-intensive, and he employs 6 people full-time to help him work the vines.
In the cellar, all vinifications use natural yeasts and all have minimal sulfur additions at bottling,
Overall, it is important to remember, that the Dao is still a vast appellation with a lot of diversity and a sea of cheap and industrial wines that dominate the marketplace. Yet this is a different world compared to tiny producers like Antonio Madeira who are still few in the Dao and focus solely on top-quality wines, usually from the best sub-zone of Serra da Estrela. There is much potential and greatness in this amazing terroir and this talented and groundbreaking grower.
