Why it matters
The producer
Almadén Winery occupies a large estate on the border town of Santana do Livramento, in the Campanha region of far southern Brazil. The estate spans 600 hectares, with 450 in active production and an annual output of around 4 million liters. Since its acquisition by Miolo Wine Group in 2009, Almadén has operated as part of one of Brazil's most substantial wine companies, with the Campanha vineyards serving the domestic range and the Cuvée No 7 sparkling wine drawing Chenin Blanc from the Vale do São Francisco in Brazil's northeast.
The Almadén name predates the Brazilian operation by more than a century: it originated in California in 1852 before the Brazilian winery was established in Santana do Livramento in 1973. The California and Brazil operations are distinct; Miolo Group owns the Brazilian estate.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Santana do Livramento sits on Brazil's southern border with Uruguay, in the Campanha region of Rio Grande do Sul. Campanha is a grassland plateau, markedly flatter and drier than the Serra Gaúcha hills that account for most of Brazil's wine production. The latitude and open landscape give the vineyards long hours of sun with temperature drops at night, conditions that favor grape ripening in a climate where the growing season is warm but rarely extreme.
Cuvée No 7 draws its Chenin Blanc from a different geography entirely: Vale do São Francisco, in the northeastern interior of Brazil. The northeast is a semi-arid region close to the equator, where producers harvest grapes twice a year by manipulating the vine's cycle through irrigation, yielding a tropical, ripe fruit profile quite distinct from what the southern Campanha vineyards produce.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The estate covers 600 hectares in Campanha, with 450 hectares producing approximately 4 million liters per year. Mechanical harvesting, introduced in 2011, is used across the estate's large-scale operation. The Campanha vineyards supply the domestic range of still and sparkling wines.
Cuvée No 7 Brut Blanc de Blancs is made from 100% Chenin Blanc sourced from Vale do São Francisco, using the Charmat method: secondary fermentation takes place in pressurized stainless steel tanks rather than individual bottles. After fermentation, the wine rests on its lees for 40 days before filtration, sweetness adjustment, and bottling under pressure at low temperature. The Charmat method produces a lighter, fresher mousse than traditional bottle fermentation, and the relatively brief lees contact preserves the wine's fruit-forward character.
Wines to know
The range in view
Almadén produces a domestic range from its Campanha vineyards covering still and sparkling styles at multiple price levels, including Brut, Demi-Sec, Moscatel, and Rosé sparkling wines. Cuvée No 7 Brut Blanc de Blancs stands apart from the domestic lineup: a single-varietal Chenin Blanc sparkling wine made by the Charmat method, with 40 days on lees, brut-dry dosage, and 12% alcohol. It arrives at light yellow with green hues, and shows a fruit character built around tropical and stone fruit rather than the apple-citrus profile more common in cool-climate sparkling wine. The wine is the estate's most clearly defined international offering.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Cuvée No 7 Brut Blanc de Blancs is the bottle to start with. It is made from 100% Chenin Blanc by the Charmat method, with 40 days on lees and a brut-dry finish at 12% alcohol. What it shows that the domestic Campanha range does not is the profile of northeast Brazilian Chenin Blanc made as a single-varietal sparkling wine: tropical fruit upfront, fine bubbles from the tank method, bright acidity, and a dry finish with lime persisting on the close. The biscuit note from the lees is subtle but present, giving the wine a small amount of bread-like texture without shifting the fruit-first character.