Casa de Mouraz

Tondela, Dão, Portugal

Sara Dionisio and Antonio Lopes Ribeiro met in 1999 in Lisbon. She was a dance instructor and sociologist whilst Antonio was the editor of an arts magazine. He ran a piece about contemporary dance for which he needed her help and the rest is history. They eventually moved to his native village of Mouraz in 2002 to fully immerse themselves in the wine project. Whilst the couple have recently parted ways, they continue the beautiful adventure of Casa de Mouraz together.

The story began when Antonio was born in a small house made from granite rocks that had been pulled from a vineyard planted by his great grandfather many decades earlier. His family had always farmed vineyards and made wine, though a large proportion of their grapes were sold to a local cooperative, as seems to be the case for so many of Portugal's older generations throughout the latter half of the 1900s.

Though he eventually moved to Lisbon to study Law, the pull of nature was undeniable and he was lucky that Sara was just as inspired by this vision as he was. They eventually took the plunge and made the move back to Mouraz in the Besteiros subzone of the Dão, not far from the Caramulo mountain range with a unique microclimate, somewhere between a maritime and continental climate.

They started with the family's 4 hectares of vines, and over the course of the last 20 years they have been able to expand to nearly 35 hectares. The family have been pioneers in their region for respectful farming, having worked organically since the early 90's (certified in 1996), and biodynamic since 2006. It's quite a commitment to be able to farm so meticulously on a bigger scale, but a commitment for which they make no compromises.

A defining moment happened in the form of a tragic forest fire in 2017 that destroyed a large part of their region, burning down 13 hectares of their vineyards along with their warehouse. They found themselves completely deflated, having lost some of their prized parcels, a large part of their stock, and of course parts of land that meant a lot more to them than just vines and wine. In a way they are still recovering emotionally and financially from this disaster, though it has inspired them both to be more bold, to push boundaries, and to reevaluate the future of the winery.

Coming into the 2018 vintage they found themselves with half the amount of grapes, yet all the same winery equipment. Sara saw this as an opportunity to do various microbatches and experiments, and so the 'Planet Mouraz' range was born. Whilst their wines had always been naturally fermented and made with a low intervention approach, the Planet Mouraz wines went a bit further and saw very short and very soft extractions, a focus on very old field blend parcels, no clarifications of any sort and no additions. They even experimented with the use of ground chestnut flowers (a sort of flour) to replace sulphites, something they continue to this day.

They named the wines after their pets and so Chibu, Nina, Bolinha, and Pita were born. We were fascinated with these wines having first tasted them in 2022, and knew we had to get on board with their progressive vision. The wines are absolutely distinct, showcasing both the freshness and linearity of the granite soils from which they come, but also the unique and quirky energy of their winemakers.