Fitapreta

The story

Three Years In Wineries

From 2004 through 2006, António Maçanita and David Booth made Fitapreta wines in other wineries, using excess Alentejo grapes. They had no permanent cellar. In 2007, they moved the project to Outeiro da Esquila. The work began as an itinerant operation, with Maçanita and Booth making wines wherever cellar space was available before settling at a named place in Alentejo.

From the atlas

Fitapreta

An Alentejo wine producer led by António Maçanita and Sandra Sárria, pairing regional vineyards with whole bunch white pressing, gravity handling and amphora wines.

At A Glance

The Producer

Fitapreta works with selected vineyards across Alentejo, managed by its own viticulture team. António Maçanita and Sandra Sárria lead the winery today, with Sárria serving as production director.

The wines come from a cellar that treats white and red fruit differently. White grapes are pressed as whole bunches, while crushed red grape material moves by gravity. The range includes Touriga Nacional, talha wines and field blends of traditional Alentejo varieties.

Place

The winery is based at Paço do Morgado de Oliveira in Nossa Senhora da Graça do Divor, Évora. The property includes a medieval paço founded in 1306, a winery built with cork and part of Fitapreta's vineyards.

Fruit also comes from selected vineyards across Alentejo. The Évora cellar therefore works with grapes gathered from several parts of the region, alongside the vineyards at the property.

Story

In 2015, Sandra Sárria became António Maçanita's partner and embraced the Fitapreta Vinhos project as her own. She is now production director of Fitapreta Winery and leads the work alongside Maçanita, one of the winery's current winemakers.

The change placed Sárria at the centre of production after the project had begun with Maçanita and David Booth. Fitapreta is now led by two winemakers, with Sárria responsible for the production direction of the Évora winery.

Vineyards And Cellar

At Graça do Divor, the planted varieties include Arinto, Perrum, Folgazão, Baga, Tinta Miúda, Tinta Grossa, Aragonês, Alicante Bouchet and Touriga Nacional. The list brings white and red varieties into the same property, allowing Fitapreta to work across a broad Alentejo palette.

White wines are always pressed as whole bunches to obtain cleaner, purer juice. Most whites ferment and age in neutral French oak, while some use stainless steel or amphora. For reds, crushed grape material moves by gravity, avoiding pumps that could bruise or tear the skins.

Wines

Touriga Vai Nua 2024 is a red made entirely from Touriga Nacional. It undergoes a 30 day maceration with spontaneous wild yeast fermentation, then spends three months in stainless steel before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Branco de Talha belongs to Fitapreta's experimental Signature Series. Ancestral Branco is a field blend of five traditional white varieties, Roupeiro, Rabo de Ovelha, Arinto, Tamarez and Alicante Branco. The range moves from a single variety red to amphora aged white and field blend white.

In The Glass

Touriga Vai Nua 2024 smells of boysenberry, blackberry, plum and blueberry, with ferrous mineral, beef blood, anise and rose petal notes. The palate is lush but light on its feet, with blue and black fruit framed by fresh flowers and minerals recalling slate. White pepper remains on the long finish.

Branco de Talha 2023 begins fruity and fresh, then opens into earthy, almost chemical notes. Its palate has palpable texture supported by acidity.

Ancestral Branco brings honey, beeswax, citrus and ripe stone fruit on the nose. The palate is tangy and broad, with exuberant acidity carrying the wine to a crisp finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Branco de Talha 2023. It combines Roupeiro, Trincadeira das Pratas, Alicante Branco and Fernão Pires, then spends two months on lees in talha and ten months in stainless steel. Talha is a large clay vessel used for wine fermentation or ageing, so the bottle places amphora work at the centre of its production.

Branco de Talha belongs to the experimental Signature Series and is described as Portugal's first bottled amphora white. It gives the range a clear vessel choice alongside the stainless steel and oak used elsewhere.

Anecdote

In early 2004, António Maçanita met David Booth after an opportunity arose to buy special grapes from Alentejo vineyards Booth was managing. Maçanita was able to rent space in a local winery, and the business took shape quickly. Their first wine, Preta 2004, went on to win the Alentejo Trophy at the International Wine Challenge. Fitapreta began with two people, selected regional grapes and borrowed cellar space before developing its own winery.

Final Word

Fitapreta's vineyards are not certified organic. They are grown with practices borrowed from organic viticulture, with minimal spraying.

Sources

1. https://www.antoniomacanita.com/en/wineries/fitapreta/fitapreta 2. https://www.antoniomacanita.com/en/wineries/fitapreta/herdade-fitapreta-wines 3. https://www.antoniomacanita.com/en/wineries/fitapreta/team 4. https://www.antoniomacanita.com/en/wineries/fitapreta/viticulture 5. https://www.antoniomacanita.com/en/wineries/fitapreta/winemaking 6. https://www.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/en/producers/fita-preta-vinhos-lda/ 7. https://www.creamwine.com/product.php?id=23077 8. https://www.bodeboca.pt/vinho/fitapreta-branco-talha-2023 9. https://premiumportugalwines.com/white-wines/wihitewine-fitaprets-tmw27-h5rxf 10. https://www.antoniomacanita.com/en/wineries/fitapreta/wines-fitapreta