textura
Marcelo Araujo
gouveia
dão - portugal
story…
Established in 2017 with their first release being with the 2018 vintage, Textura (tesh-tura) is a winery project unlike any other in Portugal. Founded by Marcelo Araujo who had previously had a very successful career in investment management in Brazil before deciding to uproot his family & move to Portugal. He had cultivated a passion & love for wine during his career in the investment world, thus wanted to change his lifestyle to follow a new path. The project is a full on family affair with his wife & children being a part of the winery alongside a team of locals.
He purposefully sought to set up shop in the Dão region for it’s combination of unique varieties, geography & overall climate. Piecing together seven different plots already planted to vines on the eastern reaches of the Dão at the base of the Serra da Estrela mountain range. The family purchased & renovated an old textile factory in the neighboring region of the vines to be repurposed as their winery facility & eventually as a wine tourism space as well. Along with a love for the region & it’s native grape varieties Marcelo has a clear dedication to sustainability. This dedication goes much further than just farming & cellar practices to include large focus on waste management to minimize the lingering effect that the project will/could have on the environment long after the wines have been produced & sold.
In just a few years on the scene the Araujo family has made significant investment into the region & the proof shines in their resulting wines.
farming & Philosophy…
Since day one they have been practicing organic farming across the entire estate. They began the full conversion to organics in 2020 in hopes to be certified in the near future. They compost on site utilizing not only their organic waste but collecting waste from other local producers that then are able to utilize the compost for their vineyards & plantings.
Winemaking is directed by Mariana Salvador in conjunction with Luis Seabra as the consulting winemaker. Luis was the longtime winemaker at Niepoort who headed up their dry wine production. He now owns & operates his own winery, Luis Seabra Vinhos, as well as working as a consultant for a handful of producers in the region outside of Textura.
Vineyards…
They own a total of 22 hectares of vines, 19 of those were already existing vineyards & the other 3 hectares were planted exclusively to white varieties by the family in 2020. Four of the preexisting hectares of vines are planted to red varieties, which are the dominant category of wine in the region while the other three preexisting vineyards are planted to white grapes. The region is dominated by granite suboils but the topsoil, elevation, exposures & microclimates vary widely across their plantings.
Their holdings can be seperated into three distinct sites: Vila Nova de Tazem in Serra da Estrela, Encoberta & Matela in Penalva do Castelo.
Vila Nova de Tazem
situated between 480 - 550 masl in poor granite soils | this area has cooler nights & generally is known for producing lighter, more delicate wines
Encoberta
situated between 460-500 masl in more fertile, clay-granite soils | planted in 1992, exlusively to red varieties | due to the more fertile soils the site has shorter vegetative cycles leading to wines with a excellent aromatics
Matela
situated between 560-620 masl in very poor soils made up of a mix of granite & quartz | planted in 2002 | this is the last site harvested by the family | it also is home to some new plantings of white varieites due to the soil compostion & microclimate that is well suited to the native white grapes of the region
