Insula Vinus
Pico, Açores
Extreme Volcanic and Maritime Wines By the Azores’ Most Important Winemaking Talent
There is arguably no person alive who is more intimately connected with the wines of the Azores than Paulo Machado. Born and raised on Pico island, Paulo has worked with the vineyards his entire life. In 1998 he started planting his own vineyards on the southern coast in São Mateus, as well as taking stewardship over large swaths of vineyards along the historic western coast in Criação Velha.
In 2013, he co-founded the Azores Wine Company (AWC) with Antonio Maçanita. Antonio, a winemaker from Alentejo with a strong following among the Portuguese and international wine press, brought immediate attention to the project and the wines of the island, but it was Paulo’s grapes and relationships with the vineyard owners of western Pico that became the foundation of the project. Paulo served as the chief viticulturist and winemaker of AWC until 2021.
At the same time, AWC’s partnerships with local growers increased to the point that Paulo no longer had to contribute all of the fruit from his personal vines to AWC’s production. Instead Paulo was able to start reserving some of his own fruit for his personal project, Insula Vinus. He took everything he had learned while at AWC, as well as his incredible fruit, and in our opinion is now making the very best wines on the island. Many of Paulo’s vineyards are uniquely situated on the southern exposition of Mt. Pico, where fog and clouds are trapped by the mountain, shading the vines and enabling Paulo to retain more acidity than other producers–even in a warming climate.