MESTIÇO is a blend with Love
Ten new wines produced with new and old friends. The famous chef – and wine sniffer – Ljubomir Stanisic signs a dozen mixtures, inaugurates a new brand and sets the tone for life. To be Mestiço (“Mestizo”). With pride and without prejudice.
Loving and Bold, Brave and Curious, Rough but also Mature, Dangerous but Solid, even a little Lush and sometimes Rare. The adjectives classify – the wines, but also their author.
These are characteristics that define the drink inside the bottle, but also its blender. Ljubomir Stanisic is a cook, yes. A famous host of gastronomy tv shows, he has three restaurants and many passions. Wine is one of them. For more than 15 years he has been creating them like a plate of food: mixing the right quantities, seeking balance but also surprise – and sometimes even shock.
In his first restaurant in Cascais (2004-2008), he started playing with “marriages”. Between the glass and the plate. The wine and the food. Using imperfections, improbabilities, making this love never platonic, but rather disconcerting. He became master of these ceremonies in his following restaurants: 100 Maneiras (2009 and 2019/1 Michelin star), and Bistro 100 Maneiras (2010/best restaurant in the world at the Monocle Restaurant Awards 2017).
He quickly went from the kitchen to the vineyard. He put his foot on the accelerator and took the country by storm. He knocked on friends’ doors, went through their cellars. Alentejo, Douro, Lisbon, Azores, Serra da Estrela, Minho, Dão, Madeira. He didn’t care so much where, but with whom. The blend was always made between friends. And from these friendships resulted some awards: “Revista de Vinhos” highlighted Bicho do Mato (white wine 2017), produced with Dirk Niepoort in the Douro, as one of the “Top of the Range Whites” and “Highly Recommended” in 2020; Mó (red wine 2013), also with Niepoort, was included in the “The Best of Portugal” list (with 18 values out of 20) and Encurralado (white wine 2019), produced with Azores Wine Company, was distinguished with the “ Highly Recommended 2021” seal.
In 2024, he wanted to make this love more solid. He decided to write many letters of intent and encase them inside each bottle. To drink as many convictions as states of mind. With an alphabet of purposes, full of letters, full of dreams, these new liquids were built. Coming from many latitudes – Douro, Côa and Alentejo, just to start. Made of virtues and vicissitudes, assuming “defects” and imperfections, without terrestrial or moral borders.
Mestiço is mixture. Of defects and features. Of vices and vicissitudes. From North, South, East and West. The blend is not just made from grapes. It is made up of stories, of friends. Who argue and laugh. Who disagree and toast. Together. In wine as in life. Luís Louro and Inês Capão (Adega Monte Branco), Mateus Nicolau de Almeida and Teresa Ameztoi (Mateus Nicolau de Almeida), Luís Pedro Cândido, Dirk and Daniel Niepoort (Niepoort) give their faces to this manifest. They accepted the challenges. Rugs were pulled out. The ground fell out. And the wine happened.
With the Niepoort family, in Douro, Ljubomir produced Mestiço Bravo – Wild, Viçoso – Lush (white) and Maduro – Mature (red). At Mateus Nicolau de Almeida, in the heart of Côa, he created a Bruto – Rough (white) and a Sólido – Solid (red). From Alentejo, from Adega Monte Branco, he brought five wines: Curioso – Curious, Atrevido – Bold (whites), Perigoso – Dangerous, Amoroso – Loving and Raro – Rare (reds). Some are simpler, others are more complex, some are classic, others are punk. Mestiço is communion. Of love and genre. No gender. With attitude. Of grapes and blood. Visceral.
In each letter of this alphabet, there is an intention. A “U” with rock engravings on a Bruto (Rough) produced in Côa. An “O” that is a hunting target, a hobby of the Yugoslav-Portuguese cook, but also a connection to the wine that this Bravo (Wild) comes to succeed (the former “Bicho do Mato”). In the same way, the “I” in Viçoso (Lush) refers to the zipper that gave the name to its predecessor wine (Éclaire).
The 26 letters of this alphabet are imbued with meaning(s). The most obvious, such as the percentages of mixed grape varieties, the plants and flowers that illustrate the natural process of some of these creations, the trunk that corresponds to the maturation in wood… But also more intimate connections, such as the “A” which is a half-open book, of an Amoroso (Loving) inspired by his wife, Mónica Franco, journalist and writer. Or an “M” for Maduro (Mature) that is Mestiço. An “M” that is, at the same time, signature and logo. Facing life head (and horns) on and with an open heart.
The brand architecture is designed by Dina Camacho and Gil Correia who, with Ljubomir and Mónica (who signs the texts), form the quartet of partners in this new project. Laura Patrício and Nuno Faria are the key pieces that complete this puzzle made of love and friends. Mestiço is wine and people. Who love and hate, who laugh and cry. Who dance and amaze themselves. Mestiço is life, certainly. And what is life without people? Without sharing, without mixing? It’s a sad figure. Let’s be Mestiço. Always, at all hours of the day – and without moderation.
Mestiço wines can be purchased through Temple Wines distributor and at chef Ljubomir’s online store, and are also available on the wine lists of the restaurants of 100 Maneiras group.