The future of food is being served — and it has Portuguese DNA.

O futuro da alimentação está a ser servido e tem ADN português.

Translated from Portuguese: Grande Consumo n63 p. 88-89. (https://online.flippingbook.com/view/841287470/88/)

Delância: honouring wine and reinventing how it is celebrated

The same can be said of Delância Wines, born “under the sunny skies of Baleizão, in deep Alentejo,” when founders Tom Simpson and Inès Deroche took refuge in the family vineyard during the first lockdown. “That’s where something shifted. We fell in love with the rhythm of rural life, the beauty of the landscape, and the potential we saw in the vines,” says Simpson.

At the time, the family was considering pulling up the vineyard due to falling grape prices. That moment became a wake-up call. “We realised we had to do something different—something bold. So we decided to rethink how, where, and when wine is enjoyed.”

The result is a range of wines infused with botanicals—elderflower and green tea in the white, pomegranate and rosemary in the rosé—created to surprise and to bring creativity and sensory pleasure back to wine. “It blends the elegance of wine with the creativity of cocktails—refreshing, curious, and made for those who love discovering new sensations,” Simpson explains.

The brand’s first two years were spent in intense experimentation, moving between a small home lab—where blends were fine-tuned “to the millimetre”—and real-life tastings, where genuine feedback shaped the final expressions. More than 120 versions were created before arriving at the finished wines.

A key accelerator was participation in the From Start to Table programme at Unicorn Factory Lisboa. “The mentors, pitch sessions, and learning modules helped us ask the right questions, strengthen our positioning, and find the courage to scale into production.”

In 2024, with the brand officially registered, Delância entered a new phase. “This year, we’re launching across bars, restaurants, and shops nationwide, with a clear mission: to bring something fresh, untamed, and unforgettable to the market.”

The brand is guided by five principles: bold but never irresponsible; elegant without pretension; eclectic but not superficial; nature-loving without radicalism; demanding without obsession with perfection. These values act as a compass, shaping everything from the wine itself to how the brand communicates with the world.

The seven-hectare vineyard where it all began is now managed using organic and regenerative practices. “Whether we certify or not is secondary—the priority is soil health, biodiversity, grape quality, and contributing to a more balanced, resilient ecosystem.”

Naturally sugar-free, with no sweeteners or residual sugar, Delância sits at 10% ABV. The brand is part of the 1% for the Planet movement, supporting the conservation of the Iberian lynx through Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas.

With a conscious approach and refined aesthetic—the visual identity was developed with Kingdom & Sparrow over nearly a year—Delância aims to reinvent a long-overlooked category in Portugal: aromatised wine. Not by masking wine, but by elevating it. “Innovation isn’t about forgetting the past. There’s so much to learn from ancient practices, traditional knowledge, and those who came before us,” concludes Simpson.

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