The Alentejo Region Wine Projects are located in a region that has the hottest average temperatures in Portugal. It is also the birthplace of countless grape varieties and soil types. The Alentejo Region Wine Projects are distributed among different sub-regions. The Herdade do Arrepiado Velho is located in Sousel, near Portalegre, while Herdade da Maroteira with its Cem Reis wines is in the sub-region of Redondo.
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The Herdade do Arrepiado Velho is located in Alto Alentejo in Sousel and has 33 hectares of vineyard. In 2002, David Booth, the winegrower at the time, started planting several grape varieties. In 2004, António Maçanita joined the Arrepiado Velho team and together, with loads of dedication and a grand vision of the future, they planted Touriga Nacional, Shiraz, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon for the reds and Antão Vaz, Chardonnay, Riesling, Viogner and Verdelho for the whites.
Arrepiado Velho has more than 10 wines, two of which stand out: the Brett Edition, the first wine with Brett to own its "defect" on the market, a 100% Riesling and a 100% Petit Verdot unoaked.
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The Cem Reis project is located in Herdade da Maroteira, at the foot of Serra D'ossa.
In 2000, Philip Mollet, the current owner and manager of the Cem Reis project, revolutionised the Herdade da Maroteira strategy and planted 15 hectares of vineyards. The Shiraz grape variety was chosen and proved to be a huge success in the form of the world-acclaimed Cem Reis wine. Later, a selection of red, white and rosé wines resulted from planting the Cem Reis vineyards with Alicante Bouchet, Aragonês, and Touriga Nacional in an open valley.
The Algarve is a great wine region and Algarve region wine projects have grown exponentially over the last fifteen years. In 2007, there were around 12 Producers/Bottlers in the Algarve region, today there are more than 30. The improvement in quality of Algarve wines was immense and the gamble taken by producers João Clara, Cabrita Vinhos and others in 2006 was remarkable for the process of recovery and validation of the Algarve region.
The process of rehabilitating the Algarve region wine projects also involved rediscovering the Algarve identity, the customs and winemaking traditions of the Algarve people. And in 2011, the Algarve wine project João Clara Vinhos launched a 100% Algarve wine on the market for the first time, produced with the native grape variety of the Algarve region, Negra Mole. A new era of Algarve wines began here, and today there are several wine projects in the Algarve region producing wines with the famous Negra Mole grape variety in its various forms.
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Cabrita Wines is a project from the Silves region. José Manuel Cabrita is the founder of Cabrita Wines. The vineyards belonged to José Manuel Cabrita's father and the previously existing grape varieties have been kept. The grape varieties are Portuguese, namely Trincadeira, Aragonês, and Touriga Nacional. Later, José Manuel Cabrita planted the white grape varieties Arinto and Verdelho.
The Cabrita Wines project is based on the production of quality wines using traditional regional varieties. Each vineyard provides inspiration for creating its own portfolio of wines, which range from blends of local varieties to a 100% Negra Mole red or a low-grade Moscatel on sandy soils.
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João Clara is a project that started in the 1970s in Alcantarilha, Algarve, and has been carried on for three generations since. João Maria Alves is the name of its originator, but he was always known as João Clara and that ended up lending his name to the Quinta.
In 2006, Joaquim João, son of João Clara, the second generation visionary, showed a new Algarve to the country and the world with the first bottles of red wine with the oenological support of António Maçanita.
Today, on the third generation, his daughters and wife, and many more bottles of wine, continue to follow his dream, and success is achieved year after year.
They kept the grape varieties already chosen such as Shiraz, Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira, and Alicante Bouschet, as well as their "Garden" as Joaquim called it, an old Negra Mole vineyard.
Among many papers and writings left by Joaquim João was his idea of planting white grape vines and building a winery, these were the wishes that Ana, Joana, and Edite Alves fulfilled and continue to fulfil.
At this moment, Quinta João Clara has a total of 14 hectares of vineyards with different soils ranging from red clay, sand and limestone clay soils. Monovarietal wines such as Alvarinho, Shiraz and Negra Mole are produced, as well as vintages under the winemaking of Joana Maçanita, the winemaker who turns dreams into wine.
The success of the project and wines is because the women behind it never gave up on their dreams and always believed in what Joaquim João envisioned.
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The Edd's project started in 2012 with an initial production of four thousand bottles and four wines of reference, a 100% Chardonnay, a Rose of Touriga Nacional and Shiraz, a Red Reserve and a Special Reserve wine made from the Touriga Nacional and Shiraz varieties.
Today, Edd's has another 7 hectares planted in the Carvoeiro area, with national and international grape varieties such as Touriga Nacional, Sousão, Shiraz, Arinto, and Viogner.
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Quinta do Barradas is an Algarve wine project founded in 2010 by Luís Tomé Pequeno. Owner of the restaurant, O Barradas, sees his wine project as an escape to the countryside and nature. Quinta do Barradas has 3 hectares of vineyards of Touriga Nacional, Shiraz, and Aragonês grape varieties. Quinta do Barradas produces a red blend, a 100% Shiraz and its award-winning Reserva Quinta do Barradas.
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Quinta da Malaca is an Algarve Region wine project that dates back to 2011. The Malaca vineyard is over 40 years old and was planted by the grandfather of the current owner Luis Cabrita. The vineyards of Quinta da Malaca are planted on sandy soil with a mix of regional grape varieties, Castelão, Negra Mole and Crato white.
In 2017, a new phase of the Quinta da Malaca project begins with the planting of another 4 hectares of white vineyards, with the varieties Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, Riesling and Codega do Larinho. In 2018, another 7 hectares are planted with the, Crato Branco, Castelão, Trincadeira, Touriga Nacional, and Sousão varieties.
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Morgado do Quintão is located in the municipality of Silves and has belonged to the family of Filipe Vasconcelos since the 19th century. Now managed by Filipe, Quinta do Morgado do Quintão switched courses, following an ethos that seeks to preserve his mother’s knowledge with an eye to the future.
Crato Branco, Negra Mole and Castelão are the predominant varieties planted in 13 hectares of vineyards. The oldest vines at Morgado do Quintão are over 70 years old. The property, which covers a total area of 60 hectares, will soon see the planting of another ten hectares of vines.
The vineyard is not irrigated and is currently in a process of recovery and conversion to organic vineyards.
This is what Filipe set Joana Maçanita when he challenged her to become the winemaker at Morgado do Quintão. A Clarete and a Palhete were the first wines bottled in 2017, a white from old vines, increasing production. This was followed by a 100% Castelão, an orange wine and then a special white from an abandoned vineyard.
The Douro projects began in 2006 when António Maçanita embraced the Quinta do Condoso project. The aim was to convert a quinta, which had little use by the family, and which ended up falling into the hands of Rita, the heiress to the property. The first step was to do a full zoning of the farm to understand the potential of each plot.
hen we managed to divide the estate into several plots that ranged from grapes with potential for superior reserve wines and grapes that would be used for harvest. Later in 2010, the Maçanita siblings were invited by the Miranda siblings to start a Douro project from scratch. In 2017, Joana Maçanita embarks on another challenge with the production of wines from the Meda area with the Alfeu project.
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The Mãos e Irmãos project was founded in 2010, based on a family tradition of producing grapes for Port wine. At the start of the project, the Miranda family already had 100 hectares of vineyards in the sub-region of Baixo Corgo, at different altitudes, with old and new vines and more than 18 different varieties in the vineyards of Mãos e Irmãos.
Mãos e Irmãos started with the production of a DOC Douro red wine and a DOC Douro Reserve wine. At this moment, the project Mãos e Irmãos counts with more than 13 references from the classic Douro red wines with the famous Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Sousão, to the bolder 100% Encruzado, 100% Bastardo and 100% Sousão.
Lisbon has very unique characteristics, due to its proximity to the sea and its deep soils. The Lisbon region wine projects are known for the Castelão and Fernão Pires grape varieties. Wine ID joined a Lisbon region wine project in 2004, when António Maçanita met David Booth and James Frost.
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It was in 2004 that António Maçanita’s friend and winegrower David Booth introduced him as a young winemaker, fresh out of university, and designs on Quinta Sant'Ana's wines began. Since then, António Maçanita has been Quinta de Sant’Ana's winemaker. Right from the beging, Quinta de Sant’Ana decided to produce smaller quantities of high quality grapes instead of producing large quantities of grapes.
At the same time, grape varieties were changed in Quinta de Sant’Ana, planting varieties such as Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Alvarinho. The cool climate of Quinta de Sant'Ana called for grape varieties from cooler climates. Nowadays, Quinta de Sant'Ana has several high quality wines of different grape varieties and types.
