Hamilton Reis - Natus Vini
Hamilton planted his vineyard in Vidigueira, an area increasingly recognised for its excellent amphora wines. He chose a different path, however, without losing sight of tradition.
Hamilton Reis - Natus Vini is available in Belgium from The Portugal Collection. We import the wines directly and deliver throughout Belgium.
Hamilton Reis bought his own small estate at the foot of the Serra do Mendo, deep in the Alentejo, in 2008. He was then a winemaker at neighbouring Cortes de Cima.
He planted his vines himself and chose an interesting mix of black grape varieties: Castelão, Alfrocheiro, Tinta Miúda and Trincadeira. These are varieties you find more often in the north of Portugal than in the south.
For his white varieties, a mix of Roupeiro, Antão Vaz and Gouveio, he also made an unusual choice by training everything on 2-metre-high pergolas.
That is a very common method in Vinho Verde, but one you do not see elsewhere. Hamilton sees the pergolas as the ideal natural protection against the sun.
In this way he hopes to soften the direct impact of the sun at the hottest moments and so keep more natural acidity in his grapes.
He farms his vines fully organically.
In the cellar Hamilton uses the local talhas (terracotta amphorae), but whereas in traditional talha wine the entire vinification and ageing takes place in the talha with the skins staying with the juice throughout, he does not do that. He only uses the amphorae to ferment the juice, without the skins.
The advantage is that amphorae are particularly efficient for fermentation. Without any added cultured yeasts, the juice in an amphora starts fermenting almost immediately, and the process runs quickly and smoothly. That is exactly what a natural winemaker is after.
After fermentation, the young wine is transferred to large 600-litre wooden casks.
The wine ages there for 12 months.
For his white wines, Hamilton uses a mix of talhas and wooden casks for fermentation. He then leaves the wine to age there for around 8 more months on its lees.
With Natus, Hamilton deliberately roots himself locally. He draws inspiration for his wines from a memory of bygone times, when the Alentejo made red wines with lovely freshness and rich white wine.
Hamilton Reis - Natus Vini in our range
Including: Intus (white and red), Natus (white and red).
View them in the webshop · More about the region: Alentejo.
Delivery and collection
We deliver throughout Belgium. Shipping costs €15.73 (incl. VAT) and is free from €175. Prefer to collect? You can pick up your order at our shop in Roeselare, Kaaistraat 62A. More about delivery