Gilda 2022

CoZs is the collaboration between Antonio Marques-da-Cruz (from Quinta da Serradinha) and Tiago Teles. Tiago is an eccentric character who built himself up from nothing to become one of the most skilled winemakers we have the privilege to represent.

Tiago started in the wine world as a wine writer and traveled and tasted throughout his entire country to better understand and describe Portugal as a whole. For a long time, he was part of a group that reviewed wines as a hobby, which grew into an important annual report on Portuguese wines. In 2008, he released "Wine with Terroir," a manifesto on natural wine that views the cultural, agricultural, and ethical aspects of wine as benchmarks for its identity.

Bairrada and Baga

In 2012, Tiago started his own project in Bairrada, returning to his roots, back to a time when life consisted of wine made for the pleasure of drinking at home and sailing in his grandfather's sailboat. This is where he began experimenting with producing a Bairrada exactly to his liking. A Bairrada that remains classic to its origin but is stylistically innovative.

Bairrada is known for using the local grape Baga, which Tiago certainly has a great love for, and the grape that, in his opinion, defines the elegance of Bairrada. He tells us that for the past 3 years, he has been sure of what the blend should be; surprisingly with only 20% Baga, which supports the remaining majority of Alfrocheiro. This grape variety, originating from the Dão, is atypical here but, according to Tiago, offers the enormous advantage of rich fruit and spices in his wine. This makes Gilda a wine that offers pleasure when young but also has incredible aging potential (we tasted a Gilda from 2013 with him, still very much alive!).

Serra de Montejunto

Tiago's ambition is beautiful to behold, but he makes it very clear that he quickly realized he didn't want to embark on this adventure alone. In 2015, he teamed up with Antonio Marques-da-Cruz to make the first vintage of CoZs, a project that once had the ambition to start in the Cozinheiros area but eventually settled in the Serra de Montejunto, a small mountain range north of Lisbon. This area has a microclimate where the vineyards nestle between the cooling winds of the Atlantic Ocean and the argillaceous-calcareous deposits of the mountain.

The philosophy in the vineyard goes beyond respect for nature; it is about complete integration with nature. Such a vineyard gives a magical feeling, an idealistic place that has materialized into reality. From atop the Vinha da Pena vineyard, we look out over the green landscape. It barely resembles Portugal here; you imagine yourself in Scotland or Ireland. This is the Atlantic influence, a part of Portugal that heavily distinguishes itself from the rest.

Vital and Castelão

The grape varieties here are Vital for white and Castelão for red. Indigenous grapes that are fully adapted to the weather conditions of Montejunto. Vital would be more productive in an easier terroir and produce wines lacking tension, but in the conditions of Montejunto, it is precisely a grape that, like Chenin Blanc, as Tiago says, is not necessarily about the fruit but rather a reflection of the terroir. Castelão, Tiago says, is the grape that gives more directness to its fruit; in our opinion, it is a grape that offers a deliciously rustic and juicy character, a wine with both drinking pleasure and structure.

We taste from the barrels in the cellar and discover that Antonio and Tiago are far from finished. More vineyards will be vinified separately. The winemaking philosophy is becoming increasingly precise; the future of the CoZs project looks great.