Why it matters
The producer
Vinhos Aparte was founded in 2018 by three friends: Luis, Diego, and Guillermo, working in the Setúbal region south of Lisbon. Diego and Guillermo both came from families with vineyards in the area, families who had historically sold their grapes in bulk rather than bottling their own wine. Aparte is the reversal of that pattern: buy from farmers, keep everything in-house, and give each wine time to become itself.
The operation is small by design. Grapes are hand-picked, fermented wild with indigenous yeasts, and bottled without additives or filtration. Every release is limited-edition, carrying original artwork commissioned from friends and keyed to that harvest.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Aparte does not farm a single appellation. It sources grapes from multiple Portuguese growing regions and blends them deliberately across that geography. Setúbal, on the Arrábida Peninsula south of Lisbon, supplies the Moscatel de Alexandria that goes into Ambar. Lisboa, the broad wine region surrounding the capital, provides Tinta Roriz and Castelão for Superavit Tinto. Trás-os-Montes, in the far northeast of Portugal near the Spanish border, contributes Tinto Cão and Bastardo to the same blend. Torres Vedras, a sub-zone of Lisboa on the Atlantic coast, is the source of Arinto for Ambar.
Aparte sources from farmers practising natural and sustainable agriculture, but works as a négociant rather than farming its own parcels. What is confirmed is that grape selection follows regional and varietal logic rather than a single-estate or single-appellation focus.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All grapes arrive hand-picked. Fermentation is wild throughout the range, using only the indigenous yeasts present on the fruit and in the cellar. No additives enter at any stage; wines leave the cellar unfiltered.
For Superavit Tinto, the four-grape blend ferments with indigenous yeasts and then ages for eleven months in a combination of stainless steel vats and very old barrels. The old barrels contribute minimal oak character at that age; their main role is gentle, slow oxidation. The stainless component preserves fruit freshness. Leaving the wine unfiltered means the natural cloudiness and wild-ferment character carry through to the bottle.
Wines to know
The range in view
Superavit Tinto is the most geographically ambitious wine in the range. The blend pulls Tinta Roriz and Castelão from Lisboa and combines them with Tinto Cão and Bastardo sourced from Trás-os-Montes, crossing nearly the full length of Portugal in one bottle. The Lisboa portion contributes the approachable, fruit-forward weight: ripe red berries, a slightly earthy mid-palate. The northeastern grapes add a firmer, more austere note. Eleven months of ageing between stainless steel and very old barrels keeps the wine medium-bodied and dry, with fruity vibrancy sitting alongside the deeper, spiced layer.
Ambar is a skin-contact white made from Moscatel de Alexandria from Setúbal and Arinto from Torres Vedras. The skin contact lasts seven days in open lagars, long enough to give the wine a light tannic grip unusual in whites from either grape. Six months in older French oak barrels adds roundness without pushing the wine toward wood flavour. The Arinto brings firm Atlantic acidity; the Moscatel contributes its distinctive perfume and tropical fruit weight.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Ambar is the right first bottle. It began as a student thesis project in 2017 before Aparte formally existed, and it captures the producer's approach more completely than any other wine in the range: two Portuguese grapes from different growing regions, seven days of skin contact in open lagars, six months in old French oak, no additives, and no filtration. In the glass it shows ripe peach, apricot, passion fruit, and orange blossom, with cool acidity from the Arinto keeping the Moscatel's tropical weight honest. The tannins are soft but present, a reminder that skin contact adds tannin, not just colour.