The winemaker behind Westport Rivers Winery

Marco was born in the north of Portugal, in the region of Trás-os-Montes beyond the mountains of Marão and Alvão, north of the Douro River and east of Minho, where the climate in summer is dry and hot, and in winter where temperatures can sometimes drop below freezing. This remote region is a land of peasants, and the wines that have been produced there since Roman times are rustic and authentic, produced from grape varieties such as Côdega do Larinho, Malvasia Fina, Fernão Pires, Gouveio, Rabigato, Síria e Viosinho, Bastardo, Tinta Roriz, Marufo, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira. Marco has been around these vines since childhood and every year, until his departure for Massachusetts, he helped with the crushing and fermentation of the various wines produced by local families.
 
As a teenager who emigrated to the New Bedford-Fall River region, he could not have imagined that this new Massachusetts land and the land of his childhood would push him two decades later to be a winemaker who would manage the production of two vineyards full-time, one on his native land and one on his host land.
 
In 2008, he laid the foundations for a great intercontinental adventure with the creation of his urban winery "Travessia". Self-taught, his curiosity for the granite and alluvial soils of Massachusetts, which are similar to those of his native region, have made him a passionate and enthusiastic winemaker who has been offering us for several years wines of very good quality produced locally, but with grapes from the Trás-os-Montes. It will also simultaneously produce local wines made from grapes from vineyards in southern Massachusetts.
 
His expertise and understanding of the peculiarities of the local climates and soils, and the mastery of hardy grape varieties led him to accept in 2018 the position of Winemaker for the prestigious Westport Rivers Vineyard located at the mouth of Buzzards Bay in Westport Point, Massachusetts. In three years, Marco has changed the interpretation of the Russell family's wines, although he has preserved the very special character of the sparkling wines that have made the reputation of the so as to land on the table of the White House. He has transformed the style of the house's white wines with finesse and intelligence, but above all he has surprised us with new red wines of exceptional quality from difficult-to-work grape varieties such as Pinot Meunier (Meunier), Petit Pearl, and Marquette.
 
We will have the pleasure of welcoming Marco at the end of the month around the table of Bonde Fine Wine, to taste his wines and discuss viticulture in Massachusetts and the future of viticulture on the Northeast Coast of the USA. I promise to give you plenty of room for your questions and answers. If I can contain myself.