Posts Tagged : Videos

Sandeman – 226 years making history

Text Bruno Mendes

Sandeman‘s history began 226 years ago in 1970, when George Sandeman asked his father for a 300£ loan in order to start his trade business of Port and Sherry wines in London. When he started the business his goal was to make a moderate fortune so he could retire at the end of the century but he ended up creating one of the world’s greatest wine businesses.

Sandeman was the first company to ever brand a cask, in 1805. All barrels were then branded with the name George Sandeman & Co to assure the quality of the product. However, this brand would only be registered in 1877, just one year after the year in which it was finally possible to formally register brands.

In the video below you will find more details about this company and the celebratory wines of the 225 years of existence.

Herdade de Vale Barqueiros

Text Bruno Mendes

A few kilometers from Alter do Chão we find Herdade de Vale Barqueiros. With an area of around 800 ha it was founded in 1853 and belongs to Comendador Vasco Faria’s family. At the moment it has 368 ha of olive grove and 122 ha of vineyards, in which are mainly planted the grape varieties as Arinto, Fernão Pires and Antão Vaz in the whites and Aragonês, Trincadeira and Touriga Nacional in the reds. But they also bet on the international grape varieties such as the Alicante Bouschet, Syrah and the Cabarnet Sauvignon.

This Herdade also holds 140 ha of cork oak and stone pine, 2 dams, 3 ponds, a hunting area, a sport fishing club and has its own winery where the wine is produced making use of the most modern technologies without ever neglecting the tradition and the knowledge acquired over the more than 25 years producing “Vale Barqueiros” wines. Since 2010, Joachim Roque is the one in charge of the oenology and seeks together with his team to create personalized wines with above-average quality that reveal this estate’s “terroir”.

To get to know more details about this estate see the video below:

Quinta do Vallado

Text Bruno Mendes

It’s one of the oldest and most famous Quintas in the Douro Valley. Built in 1716 it was owned by Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira and remains until today in the family. We’re talking about Quinta do Vallado, close to Peso da Régua in the riverbanks of the Corgo river.

In 1993, at a time when the direction was already in charge of Guilherme Álvares Ribeiro and his wife Maria Antónia Ferreira the company decided to expand its area of activity by doing production, bottling and trading with its own brand. Up until then and for 200 years Quinta do Vallado had as its main activity the production of Port wines that were then sold under the name Casa Ferreira, which also belonged to the family.

Nowadays Quinta do Vallado has 70 hectares of planted vineyard 20 of which are vines with over 80 years and the remaining 50 with vines from 11 to 18 years old. The most prevalent grape varieties planted here are Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Barroca, Tinta Amarela e Sousão for the reds and Viosinho, Rabigato, Moscatel, Verdelho (Gouveio) e Arinto for the whites.

Finished in 2009 both the new winery and cellar have the most advance tecnhology and na architecture of quality, which make the Quinta a fantastic space and one of the places to visit in the Douro Valley (Baixo Corgo).

More recently Quinta do Vallado has opened the doors of another estate located in Douro Superior (Foz Côa). The Quinta do Orgal (river house), which has magnificent facilities and views over the river – see here what we’re talking about.

For a more detailed vision check the video below and Sarah Ahmed’s previous article about this Quinta.

Herdade da Comporta

Text Bruno Mendes

Herdade da Comporta, a property located 1 hour south of Lisbon, on the Alentejo coast, between Alcácer do Sal and Grândola. The landscape is stroke by beaches, dunes, pine forests and rice fields which provide a unique beauty and very desirable to tourism.

With 12,500 hectares Herdade da Comporta is one of the leading national agricultural producers. Here you can expect to taste quality wine as well as horseback riding, golfing, beach, yoga, bird watching, among others. A world of experiences awaits you. The video below reflects some of the magic that you can find in this Estate.

Wines José de Sousa, prestige and history

Text Bruno Mendes

The dream of producing Alentejo wine using traditional winemaking methods from an estate with history and prestige led José Maria da Fonseca to buy Casa Agrícola José de Sousa Rosado Fernandes, located in the heart of Alentejo, Reguengos de Monsaraz. A house that in terms of wine producing already knows the turning of 3 centuries.

For a more detailed information of the wines José de Sousa you can read the previously written article by João Pedro de Carvalho here.

If you’re looking to know more about other wines from José Maria da Fonseca you can also see the article written by João Barbosa here.

In the old wine cellar we can find clay amphoras where the wines spend some part of their fermentation process, an ancient technique of winemaking inherited from the romans. The modern wine cellar is equipped with cutting edge technology where a talented and demanding team gives life to wines with vibrant personality, sofistication and nobility.

The wines José de Sousa seek to combine modernity with the rigor of tradition, reflecting Alentejo’s light and sun’s heat.

All this with more detail in the video below:

Murganheira – Much more than a sparkling wine

Text Bruno Mendes

It’s in the Varosa valley (a region where the Douro and the Beira meets) that Murganheira grows the grapes to their wines and sparkling wines. Founded over 60 years ago Murganheira has 30 hectares of vineyard and monitors over 1.000 hectares. Taking up on the knowledge of the Cistercian monks, Murganheira‘s winemaking process makes use of ancient techniques that are constantly being improved and with state of the art technology and equipment. The wines and sparkling wines then age in their unique blue granite cellars. The next step is the remuage using a combination of traditional and present-day methods that culminate in a Champenois technique which Murganheira has mastered for many years now, the dégorgement à la volée. The end result is one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic, sparkling wine of Portugal.

Stay tuned for our upcoming article about Murganheira sparkling wines. Meanwhile stay with this institucional video of the brand.