Paulo Machado
Vitivinicultor dos Açores
The project
I believe in the simplicity of doing well, respecting the ancestral viticultural practices transmitted from generation to generation, with simple adaptations to current knowledge.
Autochthonous white grape varieties from vineyards of different ages, installed in different locations on the island are privileged and combined to enhanced their multiple facets in viticulture and oenology.
In the Azores, the unpredictability and rusticity of the climate is inevitable, that’s why every year is different, and so “wines have to be what each year gives”.
The attributes of these wines reflect their origin, where unique grape varieties in the world grow on a rocky “substrate” close to the Atlantic, on a “newly formed” volcanic island with a unique and demanding viticulture.
Vitivinicultor dos Açores
Paulo Machado Story
I was born and have always lived on Pico island, where it’s tradition to grow up in close connection with the culture of vineyards and wine.
The family experiences and the fascination with viticulture led me to deepen my knowledge, so I studied Agricultural Engineering at the Universidade dos Açores and later a Post-Graduation in Oenology at the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia da Universidade Católica, in Porto.
Professionally I went through teaching in regular and professional education as a trainer of Viticulture and Oenology. I also performed technical functions in the Serviço de Desenvolvimento Agrário do Pico and for a longer time, in the Comissão Vitivinícola Regional dos Açores, an entity that I also chaired between 2010 and 2016, contributing decisively to the revitalization of the wine sector in the Azores.
At the same time, I was developing a family project related to my great passion - viticulture and wine production, which led to the formation of the company Insula Vinus in 2006.
This project grew with it’s own vineyards and a small winery, always trying to do well, differently and complement knowledge in other areas.
By this time, I deepened a friendship with Filipe Rocha and António Maçanita, with whom I had the opportunity in 2013 to work in partnership in the production of wines with the local grape variety Arinto dos Açores.
This partnership resulted in a new business formation, in 2014, the Azores Wine Company, which started to acquire the grapes of Insula Vinus, a company that started to dedicate itself to viticulture.
After a few years of dedication to the recovery and maintenance of dozens of hectares of vineyards in “currais” at Azores Wine Company, it was time to return to Insula's wine production project.
The new Insula wines are a personal interpretation of someone who knows the potential indigenous grape varieties and how it behaves in the peculiar conditions of Pico Island.
