After a tour through the Douro where we visited several of our partners in the region, we headed south, to the city of Estremoz, for a visit to the Alentejo producer Howard’s Folly. We were able to witness the work being carried out by the duo formed by the English businessman Howard Bilton and the acclaimed Australian winemaker David Baverstock.

We met the space dedicated to wine tourism with a wine shop and an exhibition of various artworks from Howard Bilton’s private collection, the cellar and the already famous restaurant led by chef Hugo Bernardo.

The vineyards where Howard’s Folly wines are born are located on the outskirts of Portalegre. We tasted the most recent vintages, and it was possible to prove a balance between the Alentejo character and an enormous elegance that makes us more and more excited to be able to work on this project.

At the gates of the city of Sabrosa is located the new headquarters of Lavradores de Feitoria, which now adds its production center to the wine tourism features. We visited this Douro producer to get to know the new facilities, as well as several curiosities about the production concept and, of course, the new vintages of their wines.

The visit was conducted by Olga Martins, CEO of Lavradores de Feitoria, Paulo Ruão, Winemaking Director, and Raúl Pereira, winemaker. It was a very pleasant day in which we exchanged experiences and goals for the future.

There was a lunch irrepressibly paired with Lavradores de Feitoria’s wine portfolio, which confirmed the producer’s consistent and growing quality. In addition to the most recent vintages, we tasted the brand new Vinha do Sobreiro, which comes from a vineyard located in Celeirós, in the Pinhão valley.

Our roadtrip through the Douro also included a visit to the historic Quinta do Côtto, where we were able to discover several details about the manor house, the vineyards, the cellar and, of course, the wines. The visit was led by the owner, Miguel Champalimaud, and by the winemaker, João Grave.

We toured some of the plots of Quinta do Côtto where we were able to witness some work being carried out in the vineyards, namely pruning. We also visited the cellar and the barrel room where the wines age.

Then we tasted the entire range of wines from Quinta do Côtto and also from Paço de Teixeiró, a property located in the Vinho Verde region and also owned by the Montez Champalimaud family. The enormous quality of the wines from this producer from the Douro region has been proven and they reveal an excellent aging potential.

On the January 20th, Vinicom team visited Sociedade Vinícola de Palmela, producer of the Ameias brand, to learn “in loco” about the history of this company, which was born in 1964 and is today led by the trio Vasco Guerreiro, Filipe Cardoso and Luís Camacho Simões.

In addition to strengthening the connection with this producer from the wine region of Península de Setúbal, the visit aimed to know the details in terms of production, align strategies for the future and stay tuned to the company’s new projects.

In the early afternoon we headed to Casa das Tortas de Azeitão where it was possible to testify the pairing potential of Ameias wines with diverse cuisine. In terms of desserts, the harmony between Moscatel de Setúbal and the equally famous Torta de Azeitão and other regional sweets also stood out.

Vinicom ensures from now on the exclusive representation in the national market of wines from producer Howard’s Folly. With the addition of Howard’s Folly to our portfolio, Vinicom expands the range of Alentejo producers where we already had the Bojador and Tangente projects.

For Duarte Sousa Coutinho, commercial director at Vinicom, «the Alentejo region has a very consolidated reputation in the national and foreign markets and has been able to reinvent itself and present new projects such as Howard’s Folly. We’re excited to have a producer with the profile and positioning of Howard’s Folly and whose potential for growth in sales and awareness is huge.”

Howard’s Folly was created in 2002 by the British businessman and art collector Howard Bilton and the Australian David Baverstock, an unavoidable name in winemaking in Portugal where he has worked in companies such as Esporão, Symington Family Estates, Quinta do Crasto or Ravasqueira. Although the winery is located in the city of Estremoz, the vineyards are located in the Portalegre area, where they benefit from the freshness of the Serra de São Mamede.

Howard’s Folly is committed to the production of small batches of premium wines based on old vines of varieties such as Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet, Trincadeira, Aragonez, Castelão or Syrah. The company also produces a liqueur wine from Carcavelos resulting from a field blend of varieties such as Arinto, Galego Dourado, Boal, Rabo de Ovelha or João Santarém.

Howard’s Folly wines are now available on Vinicom website and can be purchased HERE.