The Nat’Cool project is an innovative concept initiated by Niepoort, in which various producers came together to create light and easy-to-drink wines. This is the original Nat’Cool wine, from the Bairrada region where they are showcasing the elegant side of the Baga grape variety. Hands off wine making, Carbonic Maceration, soft, light expression of Baga. Baga is a touch grape which is very high in tannin and generally needs time to mature and express its delightful floral aromas and fruit character. However, here in the Bairrada with 80-100 year old vines and hands off wine making including carbonic maceration (which generally extracts less tannin), the astringent elements of the Baga grape are tamed and the resulting wine is pure juicy, fresh red with delicious wild berries, floral notes and light body. This wine is great fun, on opening there is a note of spritz but this vanishes quickly, I reckon it is just the wine's youthful spirit leaping from the bottle on its re-acquaintance with oxygen. What follows is very easy, juicy red which can be enjoyed chilled in the summer with a BBQ or at room temp in the autumn with some field mushrooms. The litre bottle and 12.5% abv is fantastic as between two, you have enough wine and not enough booze to make you suffer for it. A great addition to Niepoort portfolio, the wines go from strength to strength.