Ljubomir analyzes his 10 limited edition wines, one by one – Flavors

Someone once said that joy lies above all in the unexpected, and the truth is that we were not expecting to find so many out-of-the-box or such tasty wines. 10 wines from Ljubomir are, in fact, a nice surprise.

O famous chef launched a wine brand with ten referencesbetween whites and reds, from north to south of the country – and he has already promised that he will not stop there. In common, the fact that they were created by his “nose” and by some “friends”, such as Mateus Nicolau de Almeida and Teresa Ameztoi, from Mateus Nicolau de Almeida; Luís Louro and Inês Capão, from Adega Monte Branco; or Luís Pedro Cândido, Dirk and Daniel Niepoort, from Niepoort.

The names of the wines are curious and one of them is actually Curious. The others are Amoroso, Atrevido, Bravo, Bruto, Maduro, Perigoso, Sólido, Viçoso and Raro. Adjectives that intend to not only characterize the wine, but also the many facets of Ljubomir, as we know so well from television.

He won’t be the first chef to make wines, nor are these even his first wines. It seems he started more than 15 years ago and Viçoso, for example, existed under the name Éclair and already did so with the Niepoortsbut the overwhelming majority are, in fact, new and brought together under one brand, designed with a certain logic and as a whole. Before we get there, however, we have to thank Dirk Niepoort for putting us “on the right track”.

It all started a while ago…

Around the turn of the millennium, Ljubomir discovered that he had a knack for “cooking” wines, he just had to mix the ingredients (varieties) in the right proportions, so he went to talk to Dirk Niepoort, as he begins to explain: “I was full of confidence and Dirk looks at me and says ‘son, If you want to make wines, you first have to learn how to make them. You have to do an internship during the harvest, you have to work in wineries, you have to understand the process. Then, if you still want, we can talk again.’ That’s what I did, I traveled a lot, visited many producers, did internships at several, like Château Lafite and Marcel Deiss, in Alsace, and I went to work with Daniel in Germany.” The point, he continues, “is that making wine batches is a passion that has grown and that has a lot to do with being able to have these projects together with friends.”

So we arrived at Mixed race. For this first selection, we have three wines made together with the Niepoorts. O Lushwhich is a very easy to drink wine, very greedy, “it’s a glu glu wine” he jokes. A white just like the Bravothis one of 50% Rabigato, seasoned with several grape varieties (Códega de Larinho, Arinto and Viosinho), more or less in equal parts. A wine with more volume in the mouth, just like the Madurothis red. Very elegant, fine tannins, and lots of dimension.

It wasn’t love at first sight, but it was love at first wine.

If the friendship with the Niepoorts is old, with Luís Louro and the winemaker, Inês Capão, did not know each other. First impressions were mixed – and apparently ended with Ljubomir throwing Luís’s loafers off a roof. Still, they didn’t go so badly that they weren’t worth an invitation to visit the Monte Branco winery at the first opportunity. Mónica Franco, Ljubomir’s wife and partner in this project, remembers seeing him mixing batches from different barrels and Luís Louro “surely thinking, like a good Alentejo man, ‘but what little is that this little are you doing?” But when the blends came to the table It was a total surprise, and “the wines made perfect sense”.

This is how the Curiousa white Alentejo wine with hints of orange and honey. The Dangerousa complex red wine made from several grape varieties that does not even lack a percentage of white. The Lovinga great man from Alentejo, one of those full of character and power, in a velvet cape. The Bolda fat white, with such a saline note that it seems to have been made by the sea and not in Estremoz. Very gourmet. And the Downa 100% Castelão, which aged in a really old amphora, dating from 1863 and not caught. A blend of two years, 20 and 21. Probably unrepeatable.

With Mateus Nicolau de Almeida (fifth generation in the Douro) and his wife, Catalan winemaker Teresa Ameztoi, made a white and a red. Wines that reflect the couple’s dynamic, more focused on biodynamics and experimentation. Thus we have a Brut, which is not sparkling and could also be called Intriguing, as it is so difficult to understand − made with three rabigatos from different plots and spontaneous fermentation without temperature control. A rollercoaster in the form of a wine. The red is more “Solid”. Done from three plots of old vinesaromas of well-defined red fruits and a lot of freshness. Two great surprises.

Another thing Ljubomir learned from “Papi” Niepoort was “to release wines to the market only when they were ready”, so we won’t find anything from 2022 or 23, but more 18, 19 and 20. They are all limited editions, usually just a few hundred bottles.so we will have a lot of turnover between wines, producers and even names, as each batch sells out. In fact, we can’t wait for the scenes in the next chapters, where it seems we will go to Dão, the Azores and there will even be a big surprise from Bairrada. After all, being mixed race is being all of these things…