Cintila White

Cintila White has intense fruity aromas with hints of sun-ripened peach. Soft on the palate, with good structure and a pleasant, persistent finish.

Cintila is made at the Cooperativa Santo Isidro de Pegoes, founded in 1958. The cooperative is made up of 140 winegrowers and has access to over 1100 hectares of vineyard located in the Terras do Sado area of the Setubal peninsula. This coastal area benefits from mineral-rich sandy soils and cooling Atlantic winds. Santo Isidro de Pegoes is one of the most forward thinking cooperatives in Portugal and their chief winemaker, Jaime Quendera one of Portugal’s most respected winemakers.

It all started when the big landlord and beer magnate Jos Rovisco Pais donated his Peges properties to the Lisbon State Hospitals. On these properties the Government implemented a large colonization project, donating land to thousands of agricultural workers and directing the plantation of 830 The Cooperative was established on March the 7 th 1958 in order to give technical and logistic support to the colons. Part of the support consisted in the reception and processing of their grapes. The first Peges wines where than born.

As a consequence of the Portuguese revolution of 1974, the Cooperative was taken over and a period of instability followed. This process was later reversed and over the last fifteen years the Cooperative followed a systematic strategy of modernization and financial consolidation whit the key objective of continuously improving the quality and value of its wines.

The vineyard is located between two Nature Reserves: the Tagus estuary to the Northwest and the Sado on the Southwest. To the east are the Arrabida hills and to the west the Alentejo province’s clays. The unique soil here is named “Pliocenico de Peges”. It is a sandy pozolitic soil formed over millions of years by sand transported by the rivers Tagus and Sado. It is this Mediterranean climate and soil combination that creates this unique terroir.

The grapes underwent a light pelicular maceration followed by fermentation in temperature controlled stainless steel vats, to retain the purity of fruit.

Cintila White – Hay Wines