Bastarda

Varietal Merenzao - the grape the Jura calls Trousseau and Portugal calls Bastardo - from granite and schist parcels in the Val do Bibei, mostly 20-year-old vines topped up with fruit from 50-70-year-old plots. Whole clusters ferment on native yeasts in stainless steel through a 40-60 day maceration with gentle pigeage; the 2021 then rested around ten months in neutral 300-500L French oak, with 6,000 bottles filled in June 2022. The cool, wet Atlantic year plays straight into the wine's pale, low-alcohol frame: sour cherry and white pepper, a cool fennel-spice streak, fine powdery tannin and a high-toned, saline finish. This is the atypical bottling whose refusal to fit the local mold reportedly helped nudge Fedellos out of the DO.