Winemaker António Maçanita and restaurateur Nuno Faria have launched new rare wines from volcanic origin.
According to Diário Illustrado (1874), the name chosen by the two friends and partners to produce the wines - Companhia de Vinhos dos Profetas e Villões - refers to the nicknames given to the Madeirans (Villões, written in the archaic form, as in the old newspaper) and the Porto-Santenses (the Prophets). So, inspired by the quality of the island, António Maçanita and Nuno Faria began producing three wines on the island of Madeira in 2020 and have now launched five more wines from Porto Santo. Today, there are eight references (Caracol dos Profetas; Caracol dos Profesta - Fazendas da Areia; Listrão dos Profetas; Vinho da Corda dos Profetas and Crosta Calcária dos Profetas (all from Porto Santo); and Rosé dos Villões; Tinta Negra dos Villões and Tinta Negra dos Villões - Vale de São Vicente (from Madeira), tasted at a lunch in Lisbon at the 100 Maneiras restaurant, where Nuno Faria is also a partner, along with Chef Ljubomir Stanisic.
The challenge of making wines on the island came from Nuno Faria, who, as a good Madeiran, has always spent his summer vacations in Porto Santo. When he was confined during the beginning of the pandemic on the island, he shared with António Maçanita his enchantment for these creeping vines that he remembered coming back from the beach.
The recovery of lost grape varieties, often abandoned due to their lack of profitability, and the recovery of disappeared techniques has been one of the marks left by winemaker António Maçanita in the work he does in some national regions, namely the Azores. First in the recovery of the Terrantez grape variety in Pico and then in the Arinto grape variety in the Azores; and now the attention given to old vines, which also contribute to the qualitative moment that Azorean wines are experiencing today. Obviously, the same dynamic and quality parameters would have to be maintained on the island of Madeira and in Porto Santo.