The property is located in the Alto Alentejo region, 10Km from Évora, in the Paço do Morgado de Oliveira. A medieval Paço founded in 1306 where the Fitapreta winery, a cork building built in 2017 and part of Fitapreta's vineyards are located. Paço do Morgado de Oliveira is less than 1h30m from Lisbon and covers about 100 hectares.
The Fitapreta Vinhos estate started to be built at the end of the 14th century, but underwent changes over the centuries, especially during the 19th century, when the Saldanha family took over the building. The deep historical and archaeological research that has been done on the site, at the request of António Maçanita contains, according to it, the first document in Évora that mentions rules applied to the vineyard and wine trade, written by Martinho de Oliveira, Morgado of this Paço at the time.
The recovery of the estate's buildings is being done respecting its history and always with archaeological monitoring. In an area yet to be rehabilitated was found what is believed to be the oldest wine cellar in Évora. Today it is known that the entire Paço do Morgado de Oliveira dates from the fourteenth century, making this one of the oldest buildings in Évora. However, this was not always the case, according to Túlio Espanca, the works done in the 19th century of modernization and alignment of the building, by an heir, hid the archaeological interest of the original building.
It was António Maçanita, in his explorer's spirit, who pitted the layers of putty to the stone and discovered five ogival arched doors, a frieze and three pairs of ogival twinned windows also medieval on the first floor, rescuing the original medieval skeleton of the building and its magnitude. Also curious are the contours of this acquisition, a meeting of wills between D. João Saldanha and António Maçanita, which followed two principles: on the one hand, the recovery of an estate at risk of degradation, and on the other, the guarantee of continuity for the Saldanha family, who have owned and maintained the building almost heroically since its establishment in 1306.
Thus, Fitapreta acquired the estate's Paço, with the responsibility of its restoration and the right to its exclusive usufruct, with the family keeping the rest, in a testimony of continuity in what was one of the oldest and most important Morgados of Portugal, the Morgado de Oliveira.
In Fitapreta the heritage is lived in a relaxed and cosmopolitan way, with Évora - a World Heritage city - as a background landscape.
Fitapreta Winery is the fusion between the old and the modern, tradition and daring. In an area of the Paço do Morgado da Oliveira, was found what is thought to be the oldest winery in Évora.
Volumetrically, the new Fitapreta winery building mimics the proportions of the original Paço building, without copying the dimensions, creating its own language, providing unity and harmony without overshadowing the Palace. Respecting the existing silhouette, the new cellar remains low like the nature that frames it. It is inspired by the generous and high windows, the water of the roofs, the stereotomy of the stonework, the wide entrances on the first floor, the straight lines of the drawings in the camouflage skin that covers it.
Cork was chosen as the covering material because it is a sustainable material, noble, abundant in Alentejo, translates the essence of wine and relates to the Paço.
Symbolically, and taking advantage of the historical and present designation of the Paço, olive trees were planted in the main access path.
In the Fitapreta project, just like the wines that combine ancestry and innovation, the winery also invites dialogue between a medieval palace and contemporary architecture.
