Tinta Negra dos Villões Tinto 2023 Vinhos dos Profetas e Villões
€ 28.95
Widely regarded as one of the most dynamic young winemakers in Portugal, António Maçanita crafts wines from the Azores archipelago to Alentejo, and now to Porto Santo, a small island off Madeira. He excels at capturing the essence of the regional terroir and traditions. Tinta Negra dos Vilões 2023 is a red wine from Madeira DOP, made with Tinta Negra grapes (also known as Molar and Saborinho). It comes from vines around 40 years old, located in plots in Estreito de Câmara de Lobos and São Vicente. Intense on the nose with notes of crushed fresh strawberry and some vegetal notes. On the palate, the attack is fresh, textured, with good acidity and remarkable persistence.
This project, led by António Maçanita and Madeiran restaurateur Nuno Faria, celebrates the unique potential of Portugal's Madeira islands. Maçanita is known for reviving forgotten grape varieties and winemaking techniques, including the first Negra Mole wine in the Algarve and rare varieties like Tinta Carvalha and Alicante Branco in Alentejo. His most notable achievement is the revival of Terrantez do Pico and Arinto in the Azores, transforming Azorean wines. In 2021, inspired by Porto Santo's low-growing vines, Faria challenged Maçanita to create Companhia de Vinhos dos Profetas e Villões (The Wine Company of Prophets and Villains). This project honors the islands' terroir and the playful rivalry between Madeirans ("Villões") and Porto Santans ("Profetas"). The wines embody the audacious spirit of these islands and their communities, merging Maçanita’s expertise with Porto Santo's heritage and reinforcing his commitment to revitalizing Portugal’s winemaking traditions through bold, unique wines.
The island of Porto Santo emerged 14 million years ago in the Atlantic Ocean, being geologically one of the oldest islands in the Portuguese archipelagos. It was also the first to be discovered by Zarco in 1418. The ancients say it was here that the rippest grapes were harvested for the wine that made these islands famous. Today there are less than 14 hectars left, farmed by a group of resistants. In the neighbour island the people of Porto Santo are known as the “Prophets”, an ancient nickname that has never made more sense when you see these old vineyards planted by the sea, close to the ground, protected from the ocean and the wind by rock walls (crochet walls) or by ingenious cane structures
Food pairing
A gastronomic profile that lends itself to combinations with fish and meat.
Grapes: 100% Tinta Negra
Harvesting is manual, with strict selection (approximately 70% of the grapes are destemmed and 30% are used as whole bunches). Fermentation occurs spontaneously, followed by a 40-day maceration. Aging lasts 8 months, 70% in used French oak barrels and the remaining 30% in vats.
Alcoholcontent
11,5% vol
Store & Serve
Serve at 17°C.
Can be drunk up to 5 years after harvest
4,0/5 - Vivino (48 ratings)
93/100 - James Suckling Tasted: Jan 2025
This has a crystalline nose of bright cherries, dried flowers and pleasant saline and nori notes. The palate is medium-bodied and crunchy, with delineated red fruit and subtle salinity that concludes with a light savory touch.
Robert Parket, The Wine dvocate. Red wines are produced on the island of Madeira, as is the case with Tinta Negra dos Villões 2023. It is made from the island's only old vines, planted with the same variety known as Molar, or Saborinho in other regions of Portugal and/or Negramoll in the Canary Islands. It is the most planted grape variety (about 78% of the total) on the island of Madeira, normally used for Madeira fortified wines. Here, grapes from Câmara de Lobos, in the south, and São Vicente, in the north, are blended, vinified with 30% whole bunches in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts. Seventy percent of the wine matured in used French oak barrels, while the remainder continued in stainless steel for eight months. This was vinified as a red wine and not fortified, produced as a table red with the character of volcanic soils. It has a pale and bright ruby color, fragrant, clean and attractive. It has a nose of volcanic ash, dried flowers and black pepper, reminiscent of some volcanic red wines from the Canary Islands. It has a medium-bodied palate, very fine tannins and restrained maturation, with 12.2% alcohol and a pH of 3.17 and 6.36 grams of acidity, denoting good acidity and freshness. 3,766 bottles were produced. It was bottled in August 2024.
Region: Madeira
