Quinta do Javali Tawny NV

Quinta do Javali - Javali means Wild Boar in Portuguese - is near San Joao de Pesqueira, on the steep left bank of the Douro River.  The Mendes family bought the Quinta in the 1980s, making a bit of wine for their own consumption but selling most of their grapes to Taylors for Port production.  In 2000 the next generation decided to make Port and wine under their own name.  When, in 2015, teenager Antionio Mendes asked his father why he never opened any Javali wines at family gatherings, his father admitted that he didn't really like the style of the wines they were making  . . .   

As a result of this awkward conversation they began practising organic farming, changed wine-making styles to reduce extraction and oak and purchased new parcels of vines better suited to making lighter, more elegant wines.  In 2023 aged only 24 years old,  Antiono took over the wine-making completely.  He is well travelled and wine-knowledgeable beyond his years (he admits to being slightly obsessed by our own Marc Soyard),  and this is reflected in his wine-making style - fun, experimental, yet clean and carefully considered.   

The Javoli Ports are still made by Antonio's father.  The grapes come from plots lower down and closer to the river with a North-Eastern exposure.  The Tawny is hand harvested and fully de-stemmed before pressing, then aged in wood for at least 5 years in Douro itself. There is a light filtration but no cold stabilisation before bottling.