Justino´s Madeira Wines

Posted by C.daSILVA / at Thursday, December 27, 2012 / / 0 comments

 Justino´s was founded in 1870, in 1993 it was acquired by the French group "La Martiniquaise", that owns C. da Silva (Vinhos) SA and Gran Cruz Porto.
JUSTINO'S MADEIRA WINES, SA is one of the oldest producers of Madeira Wine and a very important exporter namely to countries like: Brazil, Japan, USA and Europe.


Justino´s Winery

                             GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION of the territory:

Madeira Island is the largest and most important with an approximate area of 735 km2 and a maximum length of 57 Km.
The Madeira Archipelago includes, Madeira, Porto Santo, and Wild Desert...maximum width: 23 Km.
It is Located in the Atlantic Ocean, 900 km southwest of Lisbon and 600 km west of the North African coast, the capital is the city of Funchal.

The climate:

Temperate climate (subtropical) with variations of temperature, humidity and rainfall according to altitude.
Temperature: 22 º C (August - the hottest month)
                    15 º C (February - the coldest month)

Recommended grape varietals:
White: Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malvasia Candida, Malvasia de São Jorge and Terrantez
Red: Tinta Negra
Authorized grape varietals:
White: Malvasia Fina, Listrão and Snail
Red: Complexa, Deliciosa and Triunfo
Most planted grape varietal: Tinta Negra

After the phylloxera (1872) it became the main grape varietal of Madeira island.

Justino´s Cellar

Madeira Wine is a fortified Wine with about 19% to 22% alcohol by volume.

Diferent types of Wines from Sweet to Dry, great persistency, intensity of color and a incredible richness of flavors and aromas. 

Four types according to each grape varietal:

^ Sercial - Dry
^ Verdelho - Medium Dry
^ Boal (Bual) - Medium Sweet
^ Malvasia (Malmsey) - Sweet

Most of the Madeira Wines aged during the first three months on heated stainless steel vats with a temperature that goes from 45º to 50º C.

After this stage the Wine is transferred to oak pipes for a long ageing process in order to achive a maximum oxidation and concentration.

Although it doesn´t evolve in the bottle like Vintage Port, it has a enormous longevity thanks to the oxidation during the ageing process, high alcohol content and high natural acidity.

C. da Silva´s Company today...

Posted by C.daSILVA / at Thursday, December 13, 2012 / / 0 comments

C. da Silva is currently run by the the french group La Martiniquaise (owns GRAN CRUZ also).
Its stocks of Port (C. da Silva Vinhos SA)  reach over two million litres stored at the Vinification Center in the Douro Valley and eight million litres in two cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia.

Family Mansion... nowadays the headquarters of the Company

The stockage of eight million liters is being distributed by stainless steel vessels and glass coated cement vats durins the first two years and the last ageing stage... 3000 oak casks, with a measure that goes from 350 liters to 750 liters.

Although the Company does not owns any estate, the grapes are being thoroughly choosen since the very beginning.
Our Ports are internationally recognized for the high quality, specially when it comes to Colheita and White Ports.
Traditional grape growers to whom our Company has been buying the grapes during the last twenty five years have been a important bench mark.

Like all the Port Wine Companies, export represents the biggest slice of the annual income, around 90% of our sales goes to USA and Europe.

Our traditional cellar

Today the desire to continue Mr. Clemente da Silva´s making tradition is a serious commitment.
Thanks to C. da SIlva´s “boutique”, the export, distributors and retailers in the domestic market , DALVA is the first name on the list for Premium Port and Douro Wine categories.

Kiko Ribeiro da Silva

Posted by C.daSILVA / at Thursday, December 06, 2012 / / 0 comments

Clemente Ribeiro da Silva (Mr. C. da Silva´s son) was born in 1943, a very creative person, he revealed since his youth a innate ability to draw, aware of this ability, Clemente Ribeiro da Silva, known for his nickname “Kiko”… began to design his favourite racing cars.

In the late sixties, a dream became true, Kiko started racing.

But it was in 1971 that Kiko started to become well known to the big audience, being 4th in the national championship, driving a Datsun 1200, and sponsored by DALVA.

Because of this amazing initiation, Kiko raced for TEAM DALVA, with many other racing cars, like…Toyota Corolla 1200 S KE20; Opel Commodore GS/E; Mini cooper; Porsche Carrera RSR and Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV.

On 1977 at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV, Kiko ran in a unlucky race, in Estoril.

Mechanical problems forced him to park the car near to the finish line, he has waited next to the rail till all competitors crossed the finish line.

Mechanical problems forced him to park the car near to the finish line, he has waited next to the rail till all competitors crossed the finish line.

Kiko Ribeiro da Silva

The winner of this 500km race in Estoril was the Italian Humberto Grano driving a BMW 3.0 CSL, that because of a breakdown in the alternator was racing without lights, Humberto didn´t see the finish line flag and was still in race mode, due to this, Kiko crossed the race track and the worst happened.

A unusual accident in the national motoring.

A visionary, a friend… a great pilot.