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Luis Pato: Innovation and tradition in every wine, a legacy of generations

The Pato family has been producing wine at Quinta do Ribeirinho since at least the 18th century. João Pato began bottling wine from his vineyards in 1970, becoming the first producer/bottler in the Bairrada region after its demarcation.

His son Luis Pato inherited his rebellious and pioneering spirit, and in 1980 he produced his first wine, a single-varietal Baga of exceptional quality and absolute rarity, which is now sought after by connoisseurs as a treasure.

In 1985, he started two revolutions in Bairrada: he made red wine from destemmed grapes and aged wine in new French oak barrels. In 1988, he planted Baga on "own roots" (non-grafted vines) to understand pre-phylloxera wines and produced the first Vinhas Velhas (Old Vines) of the country.

In 1990, he participated for the first time as a juror in the International Wine Challenge, a competition he sees as a school for wine tasting and a guide to understanding wines and the volatility of tastes worldwide.

In 1995, he launched single-vineyard wines: Vinha Pan, Vinha Barrosa, and Quinta do Ribeirinho Pé Franco. In 1998, he bought Vinha Formal to produce his top-tier white wine from a single vineyard.

In 1999, by personal choice, he left the Controlled Designation of Origin, and his wines were labeled as Regional Beiras. In 2001, he conducted his first "precision harvest," picking the same vineyard at the end of August for sparkling wine and at the end of September for a more concentrated red wine. In 2005, he made his first wine with his daughter Filipa, the FLP, using the cryo-extraction method.

In 2008, he presented his first single-vineyard sparkling wine, produced from Bical and Touriga Nacional varieties from Vinha Formal. In 2009, he made his first natural sweet wines (White, Rosé, and Red), which he called Abafado Molecular.

In 2010, he created the Informal and Quinta do Moinho, white sparkling wines from Baga harvested in the first harvest of a single vineyard: Informal is from Vinha da Panasqueira and Quinta do Moinho is from the homonymous vineyard.

In 2011, Fernão Pires was born, the first red wine from white grapes, with 94% Maria Gomes (Fernão Pires) and 6% Baga skins.