75% native red varieties/25% white varieties. From a single hectare of 40-year-old vines: a field blend of red and white varieties, planted at almost 2000 feet in elevation on a schistous, north-facing hillside in the Douro. The bunches are co-harvested by hand and partly destemmed. The mix of berries and whole clusters macerates for about a week. Fermentation is spontaneous with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tank, where the wine is also aged on its fine lees for 11 months, followed by a year in bottle. The name of a legal category of Portuguese wine, "Palhete" is Portuguese for the British term "claret" (from the French "clairet" originally), historically applied to the pale red wines of Bordeaux wines going back to the 14th-15th centuries. 170-case production.