interview

<p><em>This interview with Rita and Vitor Claro took place in February, 2020.</em></p> <p><strong>Let&rsquo;s start from the beginning. What were you doing before the Domin&oacute; project?</strong><br /> <br /> I first started as a cook in 1999 and this was my full time job until 2016. In 2010, I started a small side business making wine. It was two <glossary title="142">barrels</glossary> or red and two <glossary title="142">barrels</glossary> of white. It grew slowly over the years. During that time I met my wife Rita and in 2017 we both quit our jobs to focus full time on making wine.<br /> <br /> <strong>Rita, what were you doing before the transition?</strong><br /> <br /> I was working as an architect. We started working our first vineyard together in 2015. After the 2016&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we decided to fully dedicate ourselves to farming and winemaking.<br /> <br /> <strong>So Vitor, you hadn&rsquo;t met Rita when you started Domin&oacute;?</strong><br /> <br /> I hadn&rsquo;t. In fact, up until 2014 Domin&oacute; was REALLY a side project, something very small. Then, in 2015, we took over the first vineyard in <glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary> (<glossary title="1259">Alentejo</glossary>) and farmed it for two years. Before 2015, we were always renting <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> facilities in different places. 2016 was the first year we made everything in the garage in the back of our house. We were very happy with the <glossary title="521">harvest</glossary> and the wines. They were not perfect but it was a major leap forward in terms of quality control for the grapes and the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1104">vinifications</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <strong>Let&rsquo;s go back to when you were working as chef. I know it&rsquo;s important to the evolution of the Domin&oacute;&nbsp;project.</strong><br /> <br /> My first jobs were in hotels. I worked in London, Spain and Portugal. In 2002, I was 21 and opened up my first place. I had it for three years before selling it. I then worked for many other people until 2012, when I opened my final place. I ran it for five years and was also partners in another restaurant at a very successful food court in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary title="1262">Lisbon</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We were one of the few that did not achieve success there, so we sold that off and I focused solely on my place. But as I mentioned earlier, the wines of 2016 gave me a feeling there was a new life waiting for us. Wine was demanding more and more from us but at the same time it felt right.<br /> <br /> <strong>Rita, you never had anything to do with the restaurants right?</strong><br /> <br /> I helped him out a bit towards the end, but not much more than that. Our first real collaboration together was in the vineyards. We found joy in this and it made us pursue this plan.<br /> <br /> <strong>Vitor, what inspired you to start making wine on the side? And can you explain what Domin&oacute; was before taking over vineyards?</strong><br /> <br /> Basically I was lucky enough to be around people that opened amazing bottles, wines that became&nbsp;important to me, that defined me. It was very subjective; I could just as well not been impacted by them at all. In 2008 and 2009, I was working at a very successful place that tripled as a hotel, restaurant and wine&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I was the head chef there and this gave me the opportunity to do two&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="521">harvests</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It made me curious how wine was actually made. But what I really learned from working there was what I DIDN&rsquo;T like as far as the wines they were making on the property.<br /> <br /> So my first goal was to make wines the opposite of what I disliked. I felt like this could be done. I set out to make a white and a red, two <glossary title="142">barrels</glossary> of each. And surerly Domin&oacute;&nbsp;evolved to different wines from different <glossary title="760">parcels</glossary> and eventually to different regions. For instance, in 2015 I was doing a job at hotel in the North of Portugal and we decided to develop a house wine. So we made it, but when I left I kept the contact to make it under the Domin&oacute; label. That wine still exists, it&rsquo;s &quot;Colmeal&quot;. It was complicated, because I came back to <glossary title="1262">Lisbon</glossary> after this job and the vines were 500km away.<br /> <br /> <strong>Can you break everything down?</strong><br /> <br /> Everything started in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This is where the hotel/restaurant/winery was. The winemaker there is a very good friend of mine. This guy is a great engineer, incredibly technical. I told him I had this idea: let&rsquo;s just crush some grapes and make a simple wine. Maybe it would work out.<br /> <br /> 
His response was that it wasn&rsquo;t possible, that it couldn&rsquo;t be done from the winery&rsquo;s grapes. This was during a staff meal, and a colleague of ours called Caterina said: &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you use my grandfather&rsquo;s vineyard?&rdquo; We asked where it was, and she said it was right in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> So we set up a meeting with the grandfather and it started like that. There was no real plan. We visited the grandfather&rsquo;s vines, and in the end we didn&rsquo;t like them. But there was a tiny <glossary title="1133">plot</glossary> next to it that I totally fell in love with. The friend who I just mentioned was originally going to be the winemaker and we&rsquo;d be partners, but he almost immediately bowed out. I pushed forward.<br /> <br /> In 2015, I was doing that consultancy in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1260">Beira Interior</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which is a totally under-rated region in the North. We decided to make a house white and red for the hotel, bought some grapes and rented a facility that was close by and <glossary title="185">bottled</glossary> those.<br /> <br /> From 2010 to 2012&nbsp;I rented one&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> another in 2013 then another in 2015. The wines were spread out all over the place and we decided we needed a warehouse in <glossary title="1262">Lisbon</glossary> because that&rsquo;s where we live. A friend of Rita&rsquo;s father told us he had a warehouse north of of the city, about a 30 minute drive. Someone had lived there but it had been vacant for six months and he had no plans for it. So we went to see it and it was exactly what we needed. The thing is that in the back of the warehouse, there is 1.5 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of vines! These, on the other hand, were abandoned. So we took these over and made wine from them.<br /> <br /> So this is how we came to have wines from different <glossary title="1133">plots</glossary> in <glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary> and the one in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1260">Beira Interior</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> And then one day I thought we should find some extra grapes by the sea shore because there is a lot of potential. So we went to <glossary title="1264">Colares</glossary> to buy grapes and make a wine from there. At that point we had resigned to drop the <glossary title="1260">Beira Interior</glossary> because it was simply too far away.<br /> <br /> In 2017, we had a dinner with a friend. He asked me how the restaurant was going, not realizing that I&rsquo;d closed it over a year ago! The truth is that we were extremely close in our twenties&nbsp;but had not seen each other in over a decade. So I told him business was lousy, that I&rsquo;d closed the restaurant and we were focusing on wine.<br /> <br /> His eyes opened wide and he told me that his grandmother, still alive in her 90&rsquo;s, owned a vineyard. It&rsquo;s a beautiful place about 20 minutes from <glossary title="1262">Lisbon</glossary> and 1.5 kilometers from the sea-shore in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1263">Carcavelos</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It turned out the guy who was renting it had just quit; he asked if we wanted to go see it. We went the&nbsp;next day and started renting it. That&rsquo;s the fourth wine we make.<br /> <br /> So today we find ourselves making&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1263">Carcavelos</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary> from three <glossary title="1133">plots</glossary> including a small <glossary title="760">parcel</glossary> called Las Vedras and the <glossary title="1264">Colares</glossary> wines. It seems a bit confusing, but when you have all the wines in front of you it&rsquo;s quite simple.<br /> <br /> <strong>So how did you learn to make wine?</strong><br /> <br /> That&rsquo;s very kind of you but I haven&rsquo;t learned yet! We try to make everything better each year. I always try to honestly explain that we are not winemakers. The guy I was originally going to have a partnership with, he&rsquo;s a winemaker. If you want to plant 100 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> and make a thousand types of wines, he can do it. I cannot.<br /> <br /> We do a very simple job in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We focus on farming as best we can. The wine makes itself. We hope to make it better and better each year. Everything is empirical; we&rsquo;ve never studied <glossary title="422">oenology</glossary> or&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We visited as many <glossary title="254">cellars</glossary> as possible, spoke to as many winemakers as possible.<br /> <br /> <strong>Is everything being made in the same place now?</strong><br /> <br /> Last year we still made some wine in <glossary title="1262">Lisbon</glossary> and some wine in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Our goal is to bring everything to <glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary> for the 2020&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> with the exception of <glossary title="1263">Carcavelos</glossary> because we want to make a <glossary title="402">DOP</glossary> wine there. It&rsquo;s a <strong><glossary title="461">fortified wine</glossary></strong>&nbsp;and to get the <glossary title="113">appellation</glossary> it has to be made within it. So we will make the <strong><glossary title="461">fortified wine</glossary></strong>&nbsp;in a municipality <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> there.<br /> <br /> <strong>You currently live in the center of Lisbon right?</strong><br /> <br /> Yes.<br /> <br /> <strong>Are you planning to move?</strong><br /> <br /> Our goal is to eventually move to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> But the kids need to be in school until they are 17 or 18. We may change our minds, but right now we want the boys to do do the mandatory years of school in the city.<br /> <br /> <strong>How far is Portalegre?</strong><br /> <br /> 
Two and a half hours.<br /> <br /> <strong>How do you manage your time between the city and the vineyards?</strong><br /> <br /> We are currently renting a house in <glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary> and are planning to buy it. We usually go on Thursday night and come back Monday morning. Sometimes I go during the week, Rita stays with the boys and joins me on the weekend. We split the time as reasonably as possible.<br /> <br /> <strong>What about the vineyards that are further away?</strong><br /> <br /> We are farming the grapes in in <glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1263">Carcavelos</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The one in <glossary title="1264">Colares</glossary> is farmed by a friend who&rsquo;s doing a great job. We come and pick the grapes.<br /> <br /> <strong>Do you see any major shifts since you&rsquo;re working the vineyards full time?</strong><br /> <br /> We need to refurbish where we make wine to have the minimum dignity of calling it a&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> That&rsquo;s in the books for 2020.<br /> <br /> I always feel that a wine is not just one detail but a culmination of many small ones. There are many small things we want to pursue and do better and better. We&rsquo;re still putting some of our <glossary title="1140">tanks</glossary> outside in&nbsp;the street to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="441">ferment</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We want everything inside the house. We want to have more control; moving it all to <glossary title="1258">Portalegre</glossary> is the point. We are now in a much better position to mobilize efficiently for&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="521">harvest</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> These are small changes that will make a big difference.<br /> <br /> <strong>You said earlier that the goal when you started was to make the opposite of what you were tasting at the time. Your wines are evidently much lower in alcohol and extraction than most Portuguese wines. What does that mean to you?</strong><br /> <br /> Lower alcohol is not our main goal. Alcohol is a consequence. We have <glossary title="740">old vines</glossary> that produce very low <glossary title="1129">yields</glossary> of great grapes. The <glossary title="304">clones</glossary> are not the ones planted with the intention of quantity and the very high sugar levels you get in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1259">Alentejo</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It&rsquo;s not just about picking early. However picking time does make a major difference. Even in 2010, I was always the first guy to pick grapes. I remember because once at dinner with one of my neighbors who also makes wine, he was astonished I was already&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="521">harvesting</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> He was planning to start three weeks later. Now he&rsquo;s started picking earlier, and in fact we even overlapped on one of the days last year.<br /> <br /> If you want to do a more &ldquo;impressive&rdquo;, bigger wine you need more alcohol. We don&rsquo;t mind losing <glossary title="784">phenolic</glossary> structure to preserve natural freshness. Everything was a reaction to what was happening ten years ago, the peak of &quot;big wine&quot;. Everyone was trying to make the wines bigger and bigger.<br /> <br /> I was having a conversation recently with a winemaking friend and he told me I was chasing trends by making low alcohol, low <glossary title="433">extraction</glossary> wines. I told him he was totally wrong and here&rsquo;s why: I don&rsquo;t know any producer who brands his wines as &quot;low alcohol&quot;. But I know a lot who tout 16 or 17% alcohol as being a positive quality. Some in the <glossary title="404">Douro</glossary> proudly have 18% on the <glossary title="573">label</glossary> and clearly made <glossary title="521">harvest</glossary> choices to get the wine that high in alcohol. And I&rsquo;m not talking about <glossary title="817">Port</glossary> but <glossary title="405">dry</glossary> table wines. That is chasing a fashion trend as far as I am concerned.<br /> <br /> But at the end of the day these people have to exist and so do we. Our wines are fresher and lighter because they are a contrast to bigger, heavier wines. My wines are only considered light because something else much bigger exists. At the end of the day, we pursue what we want and what we like.<br /> <br /> <strong>We never got around to it: can you explain the name Domin&oacute;?</strong><br /> <br /> Domin&oacute; is a very basic pun. In <glossary title="212">Burgundy</glossary> you have&nbsp;<em><glossary title="400">domaines</glossary></em>&nbsp;and in <glossary title="178">Bordeaux</glossary> you have&nbsp;<em><glossary title="292">ch&acirc;teaux</glossary></em>. My first love in wine, despite not being able to afford it, is&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="212">Burgundy</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> So our little&nbsp;<em><glossary title="">domaine</glossary></em>&nbsp;and <glossary title="">ch&acirc;teau</glossary>&nbsp;was a <em>domin&oacute;</em>. Everyone liked the name so we kept it.</p>

harvest report

<p><strong>November 13th, 2023:</strong></p> <p><glossary term="Harvest" title="521">Harvest</glossary> was good. Long and healthy. No broken things this year. We managed to get our production in 40 000 bottles. Now it just needs to be sold. And we&#39;re good :)</p> <p>2023 was a great year. In Portugal, the winter 22/23 was very cold, and historically very wet and rainy. Healthy soils got good reserves and the vines produced great. Some of the <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary> we source saw 30 to 60% production rises. Spring was warm and soft. No massive heat waves and no rains or fogs in the dangerous times. Mild sugar levels with good ripening and satisfying <glossary term="PH" title="783">pH</glossary>&#39;s and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Acidity" title="71">acidity</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Overall it&#39;s&nbsp;looking great.</p> <p><br /> <img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/03/46/0346776d951b35d35beb9e2822bb047a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/e0/3e/e03ea2e73582cdbf6582ad80601272d9.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/59/e1/59e1414ff6d55c153e990a3af6c77657.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/10/63/1063b96ec41c95104500794157c0ab4a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/31/9f/319f264bb7687d36133e5c42e537557a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/d5/c3/d5c3e773b1b0ba717ddf437232a4a87b.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/4d/54/4d54bc5b4e6339725bc09e610179cea8.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/e4/6e/e46e2905fe90ed90db0a0bfe4c32d368.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/34/08/34086371bb35608943cb34d669ebba5e.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/67/91/6791baf2ead25e143d7ef7183ffb694a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/7e/0a/7e0ada549c4d6a656e9168f3a01ee2c0.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/8d/b9/8db9a6c6402af6f65c369c737a5359f5.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/cd/bc/cdbcc3bbbb02b81d2b21cdf92d0abfdb.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/9b/40/9b40a902a3331fa81c2e05a039fd06b5.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/a8/eb/a8ebc76490a54f8346513ca4f06eccd7.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/f5/85/f585f80facf63d1efa34cd29c6eb083e.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/26/0a/260a97ce0156848b42e9cb68252f1bc5.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/02/ae/02ae57065f7809af47a0dfc0da932cd2.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/29/c4/29c45b5f68caefd3d097877d5d68aadc.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/7a/9a/7a9a581e3e5bc713389c4253be9c81d4.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/91/62/9162b9278a53a6e6e09d66259eead536.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/e9/b6/e9b6a146ccb081feb2625b34f51ddd68.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/88/2a/882a2f4c978d856f4162ca5429c5e9b7.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//1009/9e/64/9e6418d6316c7b3f68a7bc307927aca2.jpg" /></p>