Factor XPTO: Playing with different fermentation and aging materials – oak, earth and glass – to tease out unique vinous expressions of single-vineyards, in small batches, between Dão, Douro, and who knows where next.

I am half-baguette half-hamburger, studied biology, environmental studies and art, and was raised between Napa Valley, Tuscany, Burgundy and Douro Valley.
Today, I am neither a successful scientist nor an established artist, but a Brand Ambassador at Quinta do Tedo (my family’s small Port estate in Douro) with a Masters in Wine Tourism and Innovation and harvest experience from Burgundy, Friuli, Mendoza, Dão and Douro. I am also studying a Post-Graduation in Oenology and making my own wine.

My first solo harvest was in 2021, picking Encruzado with my father from a small vineyard in Dão, which I pressed, vinified and aged in three different materials – neutral French oak, cocciopesto, and inox – in a shipping container outside a friend’s cellar in Viseu.
What was essentially an inquisitive adventure actually produced three good wines – intriguing in their individual vessels, but more complete blended together. I launched Gamine Rose with two 2021 Encruzados which I believe challenge the status quo of this grape variety and Dão wines, which perhaps we don’t know as well as we think.
Since 2021, I’ve made more Encruzados in friends’ cellar in Dão, plus new red and white wines closer to home, at Quinta do Tedo in Douro. All ferment with native yeasts and age in different materials – oak, earth, inox, and now also glass – to tease out different expressions of single-vineyards.
I’ve caught the “winemaker’s bug” nine generations of winemakers in my family caught before me. I employ a progressive approach that is minimal interventionist, yet academic.
The goal? To explore versatility in Portugal’s Pandora’s Box of quality wine potential. To scope out iconic vineyards and collaborate with mindful farmers. To make clean, quality wines with minimal intervention. And to let grapes, soils, and fermentation and aging materials shine.