Rio Sol

Reputedly the world’s closest lying vineyard to the Equator, Rio Sol remarkably sits just 8˚south, on the border of the states of Bahia and Pernambuco in Brazil’s northeast. This predominantly flat, arid vineyard borders the river Sao Francisco, downstream from the man-made Sobradinho lake, and forms part of a much larger irrigation project which focuses on commercial fruit production.

The Portuguese-owned Rio Sol and its neighbouring vineyards were originally intended to produce only table grapes. However, the year round warm climate (not varying much beyond 28-32C˚) and abundant water supply have allowed the production of decent quality wines. Controlled by irrigation and pruning, more than two harvests per year are actually possible (!), while both crop levels and quality can be pre-determined with some certainty. Each variety has a known maximum crop/quality ratio, and irrigation levels can be set accordingly. Premium and reserve quality wines, therefore, can be pre-planned by controlling both yield, through pruning, and reducing irrigation levels.

For those familiar with the traditional single annual harvest, it may come as a shock to see three blocks side-by-side in different states of development: for example one block is about to be harvested, another to be pruned, while the third is barely in bud…Quite a sight!

For European export markets, Rio Sol is bulk shipped to Portugal and bottled there. While the wines are of a good standard, we at Go Brazil took a decision in 2016 to focus on more premium, pre-bottled labels originating much further south, where just one harvest p.a. is the norm.