Barbeito
Ricardo Freitas
Camara Dos Lobos, Madeira
Starting in 1946, Barbeito is a baby compared to some Madeira producers. Their relative youth allows them to be the most forward-thinking and disruptive producer on the Island, but their eight decades of history means they never lose their grounding in the tradition of what makes Madeira wine so great.
Since taking over in 1990, Ricardo Freitas, grandson of founder Mario Barbeito, has obsessively focussed on making drier, fresher and more food-friendly wines. Barbeito never chases concentration that isn’t there and muck around with their wines as little as possible. They don’t add caramel to darken the colour of their wines. They don’t de-acidify their young wines to make them more approachable, (in fact, they pick earliest on the island to drive the searing freshness even further). Barbeito let their wines show the drive and minerality their unique volcanic soils give them.
Where others build their Canteiro (ageing warehouses) to amplify the heat and humidity their subtropical climate provides, driving oxidation and caramelisation even further, Barbeito builds theirs to be as cool as possible, at the highest altitude on the Island, to allow for the most elegant and restrained development.
Ricardo was instrumental in the transformation of the perception of Tinta Negra, converting it from a lowly status in which it wasn’t even allowed to be listed on a label, to a valuable and heralded variety capable of making great wines.
Tinta Negra was for so long considered an inferior workhorse grape, capable of making serviceable young blends but lacking the ability to be made into truly great age-worthy wines, as the more illustrious and historically used “noble” varieties of Sercial, Verdelho, Boal and Malvasia. Granted, Tinta Negra was planted en masse after World War Two due to its increased disease resistance and doesn’t have the five centuries of history that the others do. But Ricardo showed Madeira, and then the world, that if as much love and care is put into using the variety as the others, it is capable of producing wines every bit as good. Every producer on the island now proudly labels their Tinta Negra wines as such.
Barbeito has multi-decades-long incredible working relationships with hundreds of tiny farmers all over the island, encouraging sustainable and quality-focused farming, no mean feat in what is a mazy patchwork of fragmented subsistence vineyards. Such is their commitment to certain vineyards, they are able to release single-vineyard bottlings, from single vintages, but also in the form of blends made from wines spanning decades - unheard of in Madeira.
In a nutshell, fresh, honest and food-friendly yet endlessly complex wines with as little mucking around as possible.
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A young (by Madeiran standards) Madeira house that focuses on wines with gastronomic application, focusing on honest freshness and minerality, not exaggerating concentration for the sake of it.
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Country: Portugal
Region: Madeira
Sub-Region: Camara dos Lobos -
Soil Types: Basalt
Size: n/a
Farming: Sustainable, Some Organic
Varietals: Tinta Negra, Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malvasia, Bastardo
Current Releases
Island Dry 5 Y.O
Tinta Negra & Sercial, NV
80% Tinta Negra, 20% Sercial. Tinta Negra from quality vineyards in Estreito de Câmara de Lobos and São Vicente and Sercial from Jardim da Serra.
Aged for a minimum of 5 years (more often average age is 6/7 years) naturally across Barbeito’s three Canteiro in used French oak. No estufagem.
Barrels for these wines are kept in areas with the most stable temperature, for consistent and gentle maturation.
Rainwater 5 Y.O
Tinta Negra & Verdelho, NV
80% Tinta Negra, 20% Verdelho. Tinta Negra from quality vineyards located in Estreito de Câmara de Lobos and Verdelho from Prazeres.
Aged for a minimum of 5 years (more often average age is 6/7 years) naturally across Barbeito’s three Canteiro in used French oak. No estufagem.
Barrels for these wines are kept in areas with the most stable temperature, for consistent and gentle maturation.
Boal 5 Y.O
Boal, NV
100% Boal from quality vineyards located in Arco da Calheta and Prazeres.
Aged for a minimum of 5 years (more often average age is 6 or 7 years) naturally across Barbeito’s three Canteiro in used French oak. No estufagem.
Barrels for these wines are kept in areas with the most stable temperature, for consistent and gentle maturation.
Malvasia 5 Y.O
Malvasia, NV
100% Malvasia from quality vineyards located in Arco de São Jorge.
Aged for a minimum of 5 years (more often average age is 6/7 years) naturally across Barbeito’s three Canteiro in used French oak. No estufagem.
Barrels for these wines are kept in areas with the most stable temperature, for consistent and gentle maturation.
Sercial 10 Y.O
Sercial, NV
100% Sercial from top-quality vineyards in Jardim da Serra and Ribeira da Janela.
Aged for between 10-14 years in French oak using Canteiro method across Barbeito’s three warehouses.
45 grams per litre residual sugar but you would never know it! Searingly dry.
Verdelho 10 Y.O
Verdelho, NV
100% Verdelho from top-quality vineyards in São Vicente and Prazeres.
Aged for between 10-14 years in french oak using Canteiro method across Barbeito’s three warehouses.
Medium dryness tempered by electric acidity.
Boal 10 Y.O
Boal, NV
100% Verdelho from top-quality vineyards in Campanário, Estreito da Calheta and Prazeres
Aged for between 10-14 years in french oak using Canteiro method across Barbeito’s three warehouses.
Medium-sweet with a moreishness not often associated with Boal.
Malvasia 10 Y.O
Malvasia, NV
100% Malvasia, from top-quality vineyards in São Jorge.
Aged for between 10-14 years in french oak using Canteiro method across Barbeito’s three warehouses.
Sweet but savoury.
Single Harvest
Tinta Negra, 2008 (Medium Dry)
Grapes from a single vineyard located in Estreito de Câmara de Lobos in the south coast of Madeira Island
Half the grapes were harvested a week early, giving incredible acidity.
Aged using the traditional Canteiro method, under moderate temperatures, in old French oak casks.
In March 2019, 2986 bottles were filled, all individually numbered.
Bastardo 4 Pipas
Bastardo, NV
Bastardo (Trosseau) is very nearly extinct on the island. It is very low yielding and its thin skin makes its disease resistance very poor in this subtropical climate.
Barbeito have been working with growers to save Bastardo from extinction. The Bastardo for these wines comes from a grower based in Sao Jorge, Teófilo Cunha.
A blend of four 450-litre barrels (pipas), three with skin contact, one direct pressed. Roughly 15 years old.
Malvasia Candida
Malvasia Candida, Reserva Esp. NV
Malvasia Cândida was likely the first grape variety planted on Madeira back in the 16th Century but has since been superseded by Malvasia Sao Jorge.
The grapes for this wine come from Fajã dos Padres, a vineyard that touches the ocean and is only accessible by cable car or boat!
A blend of Ricardo’s favourite wines dating back to 2006. A homage to the grape, the place, and the Vilhena de Mendonça family who have been tending the vineyard for 100 years.
Malvasia 20 Y.O
Malvasia, NV
A blend of numerous barrels of Malvasia that are Ricardo’s favourite.
Some very old wines (40-50 years) blended with much younger wines for a delightful balance of maturity and freshness.
Only 557 bottles made.
Secial Frasqueira
Sercial, 1993
The Freitas family have sourced the finest Sercial and Verdelho from Manuel Eugénio Fernandes’ (MEF) outstanding vineyard in Seixal in the north of the Island since Barbeito’s foundation in 1946.
The relationship, sealed and maintained with nothing more than a handshake between Manuel and Mario Barbeito all those decades ago, is considered one of the most special by the family.
Thus, a series of Frasqueira’s using only grapes from MEF’s vineyard paying homage to the great vineyard and great man. 640 bottles filled in April 2019
Verdelho Frasqueira
Verdelho, 1994
The Freitas family have sourced the finest Sercial and Verdelho from Manuel Eugénio Fernandes’ (MEF) outstanding vineyard in Seixal in the north of the Island since Barbeito’s foundation in 1946.
The relationship, sealed and maintained with nothing more than a handshake between Manuel and Mario Barbeito all those decades ago, is considered one of the most special by the family.
Thus, a series of Frasqueira’s using only grapes from MEF’s vineyard paying homage to the great vineyard and great man. 650 bottles filled in September 2018
Verdelho Frasqueira
Verdelho, 1995
The Freitas family have sourced the finest Sercial and Verdelho from Manuel Eugénio Fernandes’ (MEF) outstanding vineyard in Seixal in the north of the Island since Barbeito’s foundation in 1946.
The relationship, sealed and maintained with nothing more than a handshake between Manuel and Mario Barbeito all those decades ago, is considered one of the most special by the family.
Thus, a series of Frasqueira’s using only grapes from MEF’s vineyard paying homage to the great vineyard and great man. 1023 bottles filled in April 2019.
Boal 40 Y.O Vinho do Embaixador
Boal, NV
A wine paying homage to Fernão Favila Vieira, a Madeiran who was an influential lawyer, diplomat and ambassador for Portugal before, during and after World War Two.
For this wine, Ricardo chose his favourite Boal wines aged in their warehouses over the last 40 years, by the traditional Canteiro method to which he added much older ones. In July 2018, 739 bottles were filled, all individually numbered.
Malvasia 40 Y.O Vinho do Reitor
Malvasia, NV
A wine paying homage to Ângelo Augusto da Silva, a Madeiran who was an important school reformer, on his island homeland, mainland Portugal and throughout the Portuguese colonies.
For this wine, Ricardo chose his favourite Malvasia wines aged in their warehouses over the last 40 years, by the traditional Canteiro method to which he added much older ones. In August 2018, 717 bottles were filled, all individually numbered.
Familias 50 Y.O
Sercial, Verdelho & Malvasia, NV
Over the years, Ricardo has had the privilege to work on some special projects with the Favila Vieira (Ribeiro Real) and Manuel Eugénio Fernandes (Seixal) families, continuing the long friendships that came from his grandfather and his mother. This wine is a special blend to celebrate that.
It is a blend of very old Sercial, Verdelho and Malvasia wines, each one of them is the symbol of these families' efforts to preserve Madeira wines and their long history. Quite simply one of the most remarkable wines I have ever encountered. In November of 2021, 618 units were bottled, all individually numbered.
