Text José Silva | Translation Jani Dunne

Quinta de Santiago, on the doorstep of Monção, right in the middle of Monção and Melgaço sub-region, the first-choice land for Alvarinho wine.

This very ancient property has been in the same family for several generations, and it’s also where Alvarinho grapes have been growing. The present owners’ daughter, who makes a living as a lawyer, is responsible for producing and distributing the farm wines, a passion that arose unexpectedly, albeit with a very peculiar explanation. Joana and her brother used to spend their holidays apart; he would stay with one pair of grandparents while she would stay at their grandparents who lived in Monção, that is, in Quinta de Santiago.

Alvarinho Vines – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

Quinta de Santiago – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

And that’s when her love for the land started; she learnt how to recognize the aromas, to pick fruit and vegetables and, when time came, she watched the harvest, and the grapes being crushed, at the same time helping around and getting everything ready for the new wine to be well prepared.

The bond with her grandmother grew stronger. At the time, her grandmother used to sell the wine to local coffee shops and grocer’s, keeping a small amount for their own consumption.

When new rules and regulations were passed, her grandmother started selling the grapes, putting a certain amount to the side in order to produce her own wine. Although it was Joana’s father’s dream to produce wine for the market, it was her grandmother who, at the age of 86, challenged her son and granddaughter to work together to plan a project for the production of her wine. They both took her advice and that’s how, in 2009, the project of Quinta de Santiago came forward. Their first wine turned up in 2011.

Quinta de Santiago – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

Quinta de Santiago Wine Cellar – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

Nowadays, Joana Santiago lives with her husband in Ovar and splits up her daily life between her job as a lawyer and her job as a producer of wine in Monção, where she recently opened up her new cellar, sketched and built by her husband in record time.

Quinta de Santiago Wine Cellar – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

Quinta de Santiago Wine Cellar – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

 Modern, very practical and well equipped, this cellar is Joana’s new addiction and she spends as much time as she can there, following every step related to the production of her two wines: Alvarinho and Reserva.

Quinta de Santiago Old Wine Cellar – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

Quinta de Santiago Wine Cellar – Photo by José Silva | All Rights Reserved

However, she reserves the old cellar underneath the old living quarters for wine tastings and group meals. Fairs, festivals and competitions are all part of her present life, some all over Portugal and even abroad where her wine, filling 15,000 bottles a year, has been well praised.

Nowadays, her wines are a big hit, highly appreciated, besides constituting an actual business, which Joana proves to be the leader of, and the person responsible for this life-project.

Quinta de Santiago Alvarinho 2013 in quintadesantiagoalvarinho.blogspot.pt

Quinta de Santiago Reserva Segredo da Avó 2013 in quintadesantiagoalvarinho.blogspot.pt

Quinta de Santiago Alvarinho 2013 is a typical Alvarinho, showing lots of minerality, loads of tropical fruit (a quality of these wines), citrus, peach, passion fruit, and tonnes of mountain flowers. On the mouth it maintains the intense flavour of the white fruit; it shows freshness and excellent acidity, beautiful volume and it always has the characteristic minerality. All this makes this Alvarinho a very elegant wine.

Quinta de Santiago Reserva Segredo da Avó (“Grandma’s secret”) 2013, is a serious wine, full of complexity on the nose, still revealing some exotic white fruit, soft smoky notes, slightly toasted, confirming that it was aged in casks. On the mouth, it shows structure, it’s full and elegant at the same time, persistent, fresh, with lively acidity, still revealing ripe fruit and light notes of spices, and always that delicious minerality in a very gastronomic wine.

These are Joana Santiago’s “boys”, a self-confessed “Alvarinho lover”…

Contacts
Quinta de Santiago
Rua D. Fernando, 128, Cortes – Monção
4950-542 Mazedo
Tel: (+351) 917557883
E-mail: wine@quintadesantiago.pt
Website: quintadesantiagoalvarinho.blogspot.pt