Factor XPTO: Wild viticulture, by true heroes

A salty project that is driven by passion…

The first vines of this project were planted in Pico, in 2017, by viticulturist André Ribeiro and his father Gilberto Ribeiro: 1.3 ha of Arinto dos Açores on the north side and 0.15 ha of Verdelho on the south side of the island. Entre Pedras project was born, 2 years later, from the friendship of two university friends (André and Ricardo Pinto, from Torres Novas) who share the same philosophy of life and professional orientations. After finishing the agronomy course and master’s degree in viticulture and oenology, fate wanted the two to meet again in the 2019 harvest on the island of Pico.

Although young, André and Ricardo believe they can do a lot with little, and that’s how they made the 2019 wine, just over 500 bottles. It’s 100% Arinto dos Açores, who aged for 1 year in a lava tube they found under the vineyard that made the wine… what a discovery that was! Restless and driven by desire, they deforested, re-built stone walls and planted, 0.6 ha in the South and 0.5 hectares in the North, rootstocks that they will graft with Terrantez do Pico. In 2020, they became friends with a winegrower on the island and added a fantastic old vineyard located in the heart of Criação Velha, where the purest terroir the island has to offer is believed to be located. Hence a new wine, 2020 from Vinhas Velhas.

Fans of indigenous yeasts and minimal oenology intervention, they work in the vineyard so as not to work in the winery… They are above all viticulturists, working the land, oops, the stone! They only have one goal, however humble, is to bottle and bring to each one’s home, the sea, the salt, the rock and the mountain. They are, like the Picarotos, crazy and made of stone!