Quinta do Ribeirinho, Bairrada, Portugal
Wines by Maria Pato
Varietals include: Baga, Bical, Cercial, and Fernão Pires
The Pato family has been producing wine at Quinta do Ribeirinho since the eighteen century.
‘Duckman’ comes from the English translation of the family surname (Pato means duck in Portuguese). And João Pato started to bottle the wine from his vineyards in 1970, becoming the first winegrower in the Bairrada region after its demarcation.
Bairrada is a Portuguese wine region located in the Beira Litoral Province, south of Porto. The region has Portugal's highest wine classification as a Denominação de Origem Controlada, and its popularity has surged in recent years.
João Pato’s son Luis Pato inherited this nonconformist and pioneer spirit and produced his first wine in 1980, a pure Baga.
Since 2018, the winery has been known as Duckman a.k.a João Pato with Luis’s daughter, Maria Pato (a.k.a. Maria Gomes) , at the helm. Guided by her love of the region and its varietals, she operates without the constraints of the standard Bairrada winemaking practices.
Luis and Maria work from two main vineyards, less than 20 km from Portugal's wild Atlantic coast, the predominantly sandy Amoreira da Gândara, and the chalky clay Óis do Bairro. The vineyards support both red and white varietals: Baga, Bical, Cercial, and Fernão Pires.
Thanks to Duckman’s handcrafted wines crafted from indigenous homegrown grapes, this little known wine region of Bairrada is gaining increasing attention. Muito bem!
