Filipa Pato Nossa Missão Tinto 2023

Filipa Pato Nossa Missão is one of Portugal's most exclusive and acclaimed reds, made in Bairrada by winemaker Filipa Pato and her husband, sommelier William Wouters.

Filipa Pato proves the old saying “like father, like daughter”. Although she followed in the footsteps of her father Luís Pato, including in her studies, Filipa always wanted her own world, her own project, where she could show her ideas and rise on her own merit. It was the 2001 harvest, a great year in Bairrada, that would make all this possible.

The Wine Advocate
RP 96

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

The 2023 Nossa Missão is a super-limited bottling from vines believed to be 160 years old (planted in 1864!) on stony limestone soils. It's the successor to the exceptional 2021 I tasted last time, as the wine wasn't made in 2022.

The vineyard was abandoned when they took it over from the previous owner, who was very sad not to be able to farm it, as it had been planted by his great-grandfather. They cleaned the soil, pruned short and gave the vineyard new life.

The vineyard sits on a gentle east-facing slope, with soil of shallow limestone, red clay and pebbles. The grapes fermented partly as whole bunches with indigenous yeasts, with pumping-over for three weeks. It aged for 18 months in a traditional "pipa" oak cask.

It has moderate alcohol of 12.5% and 5.71 grams of acidity. This is the most “Italian” red here — it shows why some people say Baga is Nebbiolo's Portuguese cousin. It has elegant rusticity and floral, earthy aromas, but subtly, and is quite harmonious, with abundant, very chalky tannins.

It's surprisingly approachable, but there's no need to drink it immediately, as it should develop more complexity in bottle. 720 individually numbered bottles and 45 magnums were produced. Bottled in April 2025.