Sophisticated Sipping

It’s not just wine that comes in different varieties, but the wineries themselves. It could be a rural vineyard on many acres, a barrel in your grandfather’s garage or anything in between. Owner/Winemaker Marco Montez occupies a niche in the middle with Travessia, an “urban winery” in the heart of downtown New Bedford. It may not be a location you’d expect to visit, but the wines are certainly the kind you’d hope to drink.

“Travessia” is Portuguese for “journey” or “crossing” and Montez’s winemaking journey began as a child in the Tras-Os-Montes region of northern Portugal. Every year he would help his family harvest their vineyard and stomp grapes before allowing the wine to ferment in a concrete tank attached to their house. Wine was made for family and friends in the “artisan” manner – small lots, no machinery, no additives. The purity of the process also brought challenges, but these early lessons about “clean grapes” and preservation would become the foundation of Montez’s training.

After immigrating to the United States 22 years ago, Montez continued to make wine at home with his family. He eventually realized that his hobby was a passion he wanted to take to the next level, so he began working at Running Brook Vineyard & Winery in Dartmouth. Montez shrugs off his lack of “official” training, quietly knowing there’s nothing as good as hands-on. “I never took a course, never went to UC Davis (a viticulture and enology program offered by the University of California, Davis)... back then I was working with Running Brook, talking to a lot of winemakers, making my own wines in small batches, and messing them up – sometimes on purpose so I’d learn how to fix them.”

Around 2008, ready for his own vineyard, Montez was stifled by one key component – land. With high real estate prices and the “right” kind of grape-growing land relatively scarce in this region, Montez “made do with what I had” and opened Travessia in a commercial storefront in downtown New Bedford. The original space housed the back of the house operations that can still be seen there today, an open room configured with the efficiency of a savvy studio apartment dweller – five large fermentation tanks, stacks of barrels and cases, portable bottling and cooling machines, a lab for PH/acidity tests and even a corner office. Last year, Travessia expanded into abutting space and created a tasting room, which has allowed them to enhance the consumer experience and expand their event calendar.

You obviously need grapes to make wine and Montez buys the majority of his from local sources – Running Brook and Westport Rivers Winery – in keeping with his mission of local authenticity. These grapes are used for white wines, which account for 80% of Travessia’s production. Montez sources his red wine grapes from Washington and California, a nod to each coast’s specialty. “With our cool climate in this region, it’s hard – but not impossible – to make a quality red with local grapes. The growing season is just not long enough. I could just drink whites, but as a business owner you have to offer some reds. Customers appreciate the mission, but when it comes to drinking, some just want their red wine. So I make it because it’s something else to offer, and also because making red is fun.”

In Montez’s eyes, with authenticity and purity comes simplicity. “There are many things I know as a winemaker I can do, but that doesn’t mean that I should. When you have to do a lot of things to the wine, you run the risk of turning it into something that’s not true to where the grapes are from. I think of it more as monitoring than doing. I try to ‘do’ very little.”

Travessia has a core offering of whites that currently includes a 2010 un-oaked Chardonnay, a 2010 barrel-aged Chardonnay and an award-winning 2011 Vidal Blanc. In addition, there’s a 2010 Bastard Rose (per Montez, “a secret, proprietary blend that’s a bastard to make”), a 2009 Trapeze Pinot Noir with grapes from Washington and a 2010 Bandit with Tempranillo and Portuguese-native Touriga Nacional grapes grown in California. Being a small winery that produces small lots allows Montez to take risks and supplement his regular offerings when the opportunity arises, “I’ll make Pinot Grigio when I can, and this year was our first-ever Riesling.”

The best way to try these wines is at the winery itself. A few Massachusetts restaurants and liquor stores carry Travessia wines, but over 80% is sold right in their own tasting room. The winery is open from Thursday to Sunday, and tastings include six 1 oz. pours for only $6 (or $10 with a Travessia logo wine glass). Travessia is also one of the first wineries to have a permit for pours by the glass, making it a unique venue for birthday parties, bachelorette parties, work gatherings and the like (though Montez notes, “we’re not a wine bar”).

Past events at the winery have included seminars on cooking with wine and chocolate and cheese pairings; December’s events include the Downtown Holiday Stroll on December 1-2, New Bedford’s monthly AHA! (Art, History & Architecture) night on December 13 and a Men’s Shopping Night on December 20 where local merchants will feature last minute holiday deals. New Bedford may be outside of your usual circle, but Montez sums it up best, “New Bedford doesn’t have the greatest reputation, but patrons come here and they’re shocked. How can this little winery in the middle of downtown make wines like this? Don’t be fooled by the fact that we’re urban. We believe we’re making authentic, quality wines – come down and try them for yourself!”