With three farms in each of the Alto Douro wine sub-regions, the fourth generation of the Poças family continues to assert itself as one of the most sustained – and sustainable – in the region. The company, 100% in the hands of the descendants of those who gave it life, has around 100 hectares of land, 75 of which are occupied by vineyards.
And this year, the brand decided to take advantage of another moment to celebrate: the arrival, ten years ago, of André Pimentel Barbosa at the company, which was the motto for the launch of six new ‘Fora da Série’, a range created by the winemaker, in 2019, which essentially tries to guess what new ways wines could accommodate the climate, cultural and social changes that inevitably occur, he says in conversation with Diário de Notícias. “We carried out studies of vineyards, plots, to try to find what we think the new profiles of Douro wines will be.” Fora da Série wines “appear like this, with these opportunities”, he explains, amusingly, highlighting that 20% to 30% of the experiments carried out are not used. But “I have no pressure to have Outside the Series”, he guarantees.
The launch of so many new references towards the end of 2025 thus appears as a way of celebrating the journey of the winemaker who has been, since 2021, responsible for oenology at the project. Ten years after arriving in Poças, and with experience accumulated on several continents, André admits that “the normal thing in these types of moments is to make a more special wine at harvest”. But, with his passion for Port Wine – “I went into oenology because of Port Wine!” – decided to take “everything mindset to make all the wines of these 10 years and, as I had all the ingredients to make the Fora da Série”, he decided to make the celebration an even more personal moment.
Therefore, consumers may find the names strange, but they have simple explanations. For example, Fora da Série Uppercut Red is inspired by one of André’s passions – boxing. Just like the coup that gives it its name, wine also has to deal with the element of surprise. “No fight is the same. It’s either windy, hot, or cold. I can be physically more or less predisposed and, just like in boxing, the opponent is not always the same. So, this wine is a surprise that evolves on the nose and in the mouth”, he explains. When we do the uppercut“we tried to make it a more discreet movement, with a very surprising impact and a long finish”. It’s the same in this wine, he guarantees.
Fora da Série Dogleg Branco is inspired by the movement of golf – another of André’s passions – and tries to be a wine that requires more time to feel. “It is a blend of several years, from 2018 to 2024, which has the freshness and tension of younger wines”, with good aging potential and a lot of personality.
Fora da Série Alicante Bouschet arises from the desire to take advantage of the richness of the region, “which has a lot of plasticity and a lot to play with”. For this reason, André thought that taking a grape variety typically associated with Alentejo, but widespread in Vinhas Velhas, and trying it in “his” Douro could be fun. “The Douro region itself is changing and this wine shows a more different profile that shows a light at the end of the tunnel”, which André hopes will be possible to “explore more”.
Poças also decided to surprise with another novelty: a sparkling wine, which it called Fora da Série Élevé and which, jokes the winemaker, stole “the few hairs I already had. It made sense in the portfolio and at Fora da Série and is a style we didn’t have. My challenge was to create a base wine that had the structure to make it stand out – and hence the name”, he explains.
This wine is 100% Rabigato that maintains significant freshness and works very well with the integration of used French oak barrels. Made using the traditional Champagne method, it aged for more than a year in barrels and 27 months in bottle. THE disgorging it was only done in 2025, and “we didn’t make any corrections”, he says, satisfied.
Consumption falls and customers change
World wine consumption has been falling consistently in recent years, having reached the lowest levels since 1961 in 2024. Penalizing the sector has been the change in behavior of new generations, increasingly turned away from alcoholic beverages – and very permeable to all the information conveyed by experts and the World Health Organization, which have hardened their tone against wine consumption. Although, at the same time, they do not do so with other types of drinks, which has already increased the level of protests from producers and winemakers.
Asked by DN about how we continue to create references in this context, André remains optimistic and asks us to look at the experience of Port Wine, as a teacher of time and patience.
“I think it is a cyclical and cultural moment. It is necessary to have new movements and as happened in other moments, some will stay and others will disappear. I am more concerned about the issue of taking away the sharing nature of wine. The function of wine at the table is almost lost”, he laments. Something that is particularly relevant among Mediterranean peoples, where wine and gastronomy are practically inseparable. “What gives me hope is that the generations that come after now enjoy sharing more”, he adds.
I think wine will once again be the protagonist, despite external pressures. And this trend towards less alcoholic, fresher, more elegant, more versatile wines is natural. Because the food has also changed and the wines have to keep up”, reflects this winemaker passionate about cooking.
He also blames the prices charged in restaurants – “they are absurd” – when it comes to wine, admitting that it has a distancing effect on customers and potential customers.
But, he repeats, “Port wine teaches us to be calm and patient” and, for this reason, he thinks it will not be difficult to reverse this trend of decreasing consumption. “Wine has to recapture the cultural moment. The sector has to re-educate new generations and sell an experience. When we are drinking wines from 30 or 40 years ago, that is an experience. We have to remember to sell that unique experience.”
And when we ask him to identify the main challenges of the next ten years, he has them quite well defined: “The sustainability of the vineyard and the process itself. How will we be able to survive with a lack of water, extreme heat and high consumption?”; soon after, the fact that “wine communication has to be more linked to moments of sharing and joy. We have to be able to sell different experiences always associated with gastronomy and wine tourism; and the work of backstage of paying attention to the resurgence of these varieties” that will help combat climate change, and whose history we must look to in order to face the future.
Take advantage of the fact that we talked about these topics to leave another reflection: “I’m curious to see how the region will react to cultural and climatic changes. There are varieties showing strength, and others that we took for granted falling… of course, the fact that we have a presence in three sub-regions helps us. But we will have to continue to be smart and know how to take advantage of the excellent raw material. We will continue to have to use communication that highlights this consistency that we have achieved in Poças, this diversity. And we must continue to understand the What can we do in our processes to become more sustainable, continuing the path we have been following”, he admits.
And regarding the surprises or curiosities of the next decade, he doesn’t hesitate either: he believes we should look at the sparkling wines that are being produced in the United Kingdom, the wines that are being created in the Netherlands and the regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, which are facing significant challenges thanks to climate change.