Salton Intenso Brut Sparkling Wine

About Salton Intenso Brut Sparkling Wine

Salton Intenso Brut Sparkling Wine is a straightforward and bright wine from southern Brazil. Bright citrus and nutty notes with a creamy mouthfeel.

About Salton Winery

As is the case with many Brazilian wineries, Salton was established by emigrants from Northern Italy who came to the Serra Gaucha wine region. In this case, it was the year 1878, when Antonio Domenico Salton, came to Brazil to seek his fortune. Like many emigrants, he planted grapes and made home wine, but established Salton Winery much earlier than others – in 1910, with the support of his seven sons.

Today Salton produces 25 million liters of wine and makes 60 to 70 different labels. They purchase 70% of their grapes from local grape growers but also own 50 hectares of their own vines in Serra Gaucha and another 115 hectares further south in the Campanha region. They employ 500 workers and export their wine to 24 different countries.

The winery headquarters is just outside of town and is a very large impressive white stucco building with mosaics inside and out. In the front is a small demonstration vineyard. The winery offers daily tours and tastings for visitors.

About Serra Gaucha

Serra Gaúcha is a Brazilian wine region in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, where Brazil meets Uruguay. Its name is apt: the landscape here is characterized by low mountain ranges (serras) and populated by gaúchos, the cowboys of the Brazilian Pampas.

Small landholdings of just a few hectares are the norm in Serra Gacúha, which makes co-operative winemaking almost a necessity. The cost of buying and maintaining winemaking equipment is considerable, so local vignerons pool their resources and invest in shared, co-operative wineries. It was through similar collaborative efforts that a group of Serra Gaúcha winemakers successfully campaigned for the creation of Vale do Vinhedos DO, Brazil’s first wine appellation. With the infamous Bento Goncalves at the heart, Serra Gaúcha is considered the wine capital region of Brazil and is responsible for 80 percent of the entire country’s production of wine.

Serra Gaúcha’s terroir is characterized by the region’s altitude and latitude, while the local culture is tangibly influenced by the immigrant populations from Germany and Italy. Porto Alegre is the state capital and is, as its name implies, a harbor town. It lies at the eastern edge of the Serra Gaúcha winelands, and from there the land rises from sea level to more than 2,500 feet (760m) at Caixas do Sul, the state’s second city and local wine capital. The altitude and mountainous topography here are vital to the area’s suitability for viticulture, providing cooling temperatures to create a longer growing season and higher acid retention. Soil type of the region is also attributed to the altitude with viticulture predominantly found planted in pockets of volcanic basalt that is high in nutrients.

The local cuisine and architecture show significant Italian influences, and Italy is largely to thank for the birth of effective viticulture here in the late 19th Century. The first grape varieties which first took off here were Italian (Barbera and Trebbiano among them), although these have now largely been supplanted by international varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

As is the case in most of Brazil’s wine regions (all of which, with the exception of the Vale do Sao Francisco, are here in the south), sparkling wines are the specialty of Serra Gaúcha. Many are made in the Italian foaming spumante style, but the popularity of French champagne terminology has now led to Brazilian sparkling wines being labeled as brut or even extra brut (dry or extra dry).