How Hossio Rosé Is Made - From Night Harvest to Glass

Stage 01 of 05

The Vineyard

It starts with where the vines grow

Our vineyard sits on a gentle south-facing slope within Serra d'Ossa, a mountain range in the heart of Portugal's Alentejo region.

The vines were planted in 2016, with rows running west to east. They catch the morning light early and continue ripening steadily through the day.

Serra d'Ossa brings cooler nights than the Alentejo plains below. That difference between daytime and night-time temperatures helps the grapes retain the natural acidity and freshness that define the wine long before the cellar becomes involved.

We grow two Portuguese grape varieties: Touriga Nacional and Aragonez.

Touriga Nacional brings perfume, floral lift and aromatic complexity. Aragonez provides structure and backbone. Together, they give the wine freshness and substance, creating a dry rosé designed to hold its place at the table.

Stage 02 of 05

The Night Harvest

Why we pick after dark

Harvest begins after dark.

In the Alentejo, August daytime temperatures regularly push beyond 35°C. Picking in that heat means grapes can arrive at the press warm, accelerating oxidation and making it harder to preserve their freshness and aromatic character.

So we pick at night, by hand.

The fruit reaches the cellar cool, not because we chill it afterwards, but because it was never allowed to become hot in the first place.

This helps preserve the aromatic character of Touriga Nacional and the natural acidity of the fruit before any intervention in the winery begins.

Manual harvesting also means every bunch is seen and selected by the picker. What reaches the winery has already passed through human judgement.

Stage 03 of 05

The Press

Gentle extraction, limited skin contact

The grapes are transferred to a pneumatic press, but we deliberately use smaller loads rather than filling the press completely.

There is a reason for this.

A smaller load allows pressing to begin sooner, reducing the time the fruit remains in contact with the skins while the press is being filled.

We are looking for only light skin contact. Enough to draw the pale salmon colour that defines Hossio Rosé, without extracting more colour than we want.

This is a direct-press style of rosé. There is no prolonged maceration.

Touriga Nacional and Aragonez reveal visibly different juice colours at the press. Seeing the two side by side gives a useful glimpse into why careful pressing and controlled skin contact matter when determining the colour and style of the finished rosé.

48 hours at 8°C

Once pressed, the juice does not go straight to fermentation.

It undergoes cold static settling at 8°C for 48 hours. At this stage, suspended solids remain in the juice, including tiny fragments of grape material.

At the low temperature, those solids gradually settle naturally to the bottom of the vessel. After two days, the clear juice can be gently racked away from the sediment.

No centrifuge. Cool temperatures, gravity and patience do the work.

Removing the solids at this stage allows us to begin fermentation with cleaner juice and reduces the need for correction later in the process.

Stage 04 of 05

The Fermentation

Eighteen days at low temperature

Fermentation takes place in stainless steel vats at a controlled 14°C.

At this temperature, the yeast works slowly. Fermentation lasts for approximately 18 days.

For us, speed is not the objective.

Keeping the temperature low helps preserve the volatile aromatic compounds responsible for the wine's fruit and floral character rather than losing them through the heat and speed of a warmer fermentation.

The result is a wine where freshness, fruit and acidity remain in balance. The acidity in the finished wine is not something added later. It is something we protect throughout the process.

Stage 05 of 05

The Fine Lees

Six months of patience

Fermentation may be finished, but our rosé is not.

At this point, the young wine is ready for the longest stage of the process.

Hossio then rests for six months on its fine lees, with periodic bâtonnage.

Fine lees are the microscopic yeast particles that remain after fermentation. As the wine rests with them, they gradually contribute texture and weight, giving the finished rosé a rounder mouthfeel.

Those six months serve another purpose.

By ageing through the winter, naturally colder cellar temperatures encourage tartrate crystals to form. Rather than forcing that process artificially over a much shorter period, we allow the cold of winter to do the work over time.

It occupies cellar space. It delays bottling. It takes longer. We do it because it is part of the wine we want to make.

Hossio Rosé 2024: winemaking summary

What we leave out

Hossio Rosé contains sulphites, a small and necessary addition that helps protect the wine during ageing and transport.

Beyond that, we add as little as possible.

No animal-derived fining agents are used at any stage, so the finished wine is vegan.

It is also dry, with negligible residual sugar. There is no sweetness being used to soften or disguise the structure of the wine.

The night harvest, gentle pressing, cold settling, slow fermentation and lees ageing all serve the same purpose: to preserve what comes from the grapes while keeping later intervention to a minimum.

When the raw material is handled gently and carefully, less correction is needed later and more of Serra d'Ossa can remain in the finished wine.

The glass

Salmon in colour, clear and bright.

The nose offers grapefruit and yellow stone fruit, lifted by subtle florals. On the palate, the wine is balanced and rounded, with lively acidity and a refreshing finish.

Six months on fine lees bring texture and weight without taking away the freshness that defines the wine.

A dry Portuguese rosé grown and made in Serra d'Ossa, Alentejo.

Made slowly, with intention, and in small quantities.

This is how we make Hossio Rosé.

A final thought

Wine begins long before fermentation.

For Hossio, it begins with where the vines grow, when the grapes are picked and how they arrive at the cellar.

Every stage after that is about preserving rather than correcting.

Night harvest. Gentle pressing. Cold settling. Slow fermentation. Six months on fine lees.

There are faster ways to make rosé.

We have chosen not to use them.

Frequently asked questions about how Hossio Rosé is made