Marinho Vinhos

The story of Luis Gil founder of the Winery Marinho Vinhos

Wine has been Luis Gil’s passion for many years. His childhood home had a wine cellar filled with hundreds of classic Dão and Bairrada wines. From this cellar, Luis learned to taste wine. His interest grew and took him to wine fairs to research different styles and producers. Meanwhile, he met many winemakers in the area, new friendships developed. One day in 2015, he decided “this year I am going to make wine”. The biggest drive for Luis was that he couldn’t actually find a wine he was ‘really’ impressed with.

He joined the Encosta da Quinta team led by Rodrigo Filipe (Humus). His future was set, and he became part of a team of surfers and beach boys who went on to grow wine on the west coast of Portugal.

In 2017, he started his own project. “I looked for plots with old vines in Óbidos (where I live) and rented my first 60-year-old vineyard. That’s where Marinho was born, a wine with the characteristics and profile I love. Now, I have a fine collection of fantastically located vineyards with only local grape varieties, ranging in age from 40 to 110 years old.” Luis works entirely organically. “I intend to make simple, fresh, saline and characterful wines, with minimal intervention in the cellar and without using sulphites.”

At harvest time, he selects the grapes one by one. He checks each bunch and processes only perfectly ripe grapes. In the cellar, he bruises them lightly and lets the juice ferment along with the skins and stalks. He does this for both white and red.

The grapes he grows include arinto, vital, fernão pires, alicante branco and castelão. Luis’ Marinho wines bulge with character and are the perfect expression of the Atlantic climate that makes this part of Portugal so unique.