NATUS VINI (HAMILTON REIS)

Alentejo, Portugal

Hamilton Reis’ family wine project, Natus, delivers the terroir and complexity that one would expect from the winemaker at Mouchao. Natus means born in Latin. Hamilton chose the name to indicate that he and his family started this project from the ground up. They bought four hectares of land in Vidigueira, Alentejo in 2008. For ten years, Hamilton nurtured the soil so it could recover from decades of chemical abuse with herbicides and pesticides. During that time, he learned about the climate and the varietals planted in the region and talked to the elders about the local wine-making traditions. Those traditions are, for Hamilton, as much part of the terroir as everything else. Less than 6,000 bottles produced annually.