DOURO’S
NEW LEGACY
This is Menin Douro Estates
A Menin Douro Estates
nasce de um sonho: produzir
grandes vinhos do Douro
e colocá-los no mundo.
Menin, uma
homenagem
ao Douro
A Menin Douro Estates é um ambicioso projeto de desenvolvimento vitivinícola com o objetivo de criar, a médio prazo, um portefólio de vinhos DOC Douro de excelência.
Falamos de Tintos, Brancos e Porto, numa produção que deverá chegar a 400 mil garrafas em 2025.
Partimos do potencial enorme do Douro, da qualidade excecional do seu terroir e das suas inspiradoras paisagens para produzirmos vinhos magníficos que honrem e valorizem a riqueza histórica desta região. A maior área contígua de vinhas velhas do Douro é uma preciosidade extra, que nos impulsiona e distingue no cumprimento deste sonho.
The forerunners
The passion for Portugal and the Douro on the part of Brazilian entrepreneurs Rubens Menin and Cristiano Gomes goes back a long way. First as an almost second homeland, now as the ideal destination for a unique project that aims to strengthen the historical legacy of the Douro.
Rubens Menin, one of the greatest Brazilian businessmen, with a vast portfolio of businesses, ranging from banking to the largest construction company in Latin America, and Cristiano Gomes, a partner and businessman with a career in the financial area, joined efforts to fulfill their passion.
Rubens Menin | Cristiano Gomes
A REGION OF HUGE POTENTIAL,
WITH SO MUCH STILL TO DISCOVER.
Why
the Douro
Why
the Douro
A aposta na promoção
e desenvolvimento do Douro
Enquanto as grandes regiões vinícolas de França, Itália e Espanha mostram maturidade com pequeno potencial de crescimento, o Douro tem ainda um longo caminho a percorrer para se igualar em reconhecimento e preços. A bifurcação do vinho do Porto para os vinhos finos de mesa é ainda muito recente. No entanto, apresenta alguns vinhos excecionais e uma diversidade de castas e estilos inigualáveis. É por isso que o desenvolvimento e a promoção da região são dois pilares da Menin Douro Estates.
As Quintas
As quintas localizam-se no Cima Corgo, em Gouvinhas, uma freguesia de Sabrosa na região do Alto Douro Vinhateiro, Património da Humanidade.
A Costa de Cima tem 28ha de vinhas e 10ha de olivais e mata. Estende-se do nível do rio Douro (90m acima do mar) até à cota 240. Contém 11ha de vinhas plantadas há mais de 100 anos, com mais de 50 castas identificadas, sendo a maior área contígua de vinhas velhas na região.
A Quinta do Sol totaliza 14ha de vinhas totalmente replantadas em 2018/ 2019, situadas em colinas que vão até aos 500m de altitude.
A Quinta do Caleiro tem uma área total de 36ha, dos quais 23ha de vinha.
Costa de Cima | Sol | Caleiro
Costa de Cima
Sabrosa, Portugal
Quinta do Sol
Sabrosa, Portugal
QUINTA DO SOL
Sabrosa, Portugal
Quinta do Caleiro
Sabrosa, Portugal
Mapa
Com uma localização privilegiada, uma extensa frente de rio e uma multiplicidade de altitudes e exposições, as nossas Quintas são o lugar perfeito para a criação de vinhos especiais.
EXPLORE O MAPA →
EXPLORE O MAPA ↓
Património
Para além de se configurarem como um mostruário da diversidade vitivinícola do Douro, as nossas Quintas preservam um edificado que conjuga as marcas de um passado longínquo com a modernidade que ambiciona por um futuro auspicioso.
CONHEÇA O NOSSO PATRIMÓNIO →
CONHEÇA O NOSSO PATRIMÓNIO ↓
Old Vines
Quinta da Costa de Cima
Winery
Quinta da Costa de Cima
Winery
Quinta da Costa de Cima
House
Quinta da Costa de Cima
Chapel
Quinta da Costa de Cima
Chapel
Quinta da Costa de Cima
Apeadeiro
Quinta da Costa de Cima
Ruínas
Quinta do Sol
Ruínas
Quinta do Sol
History
Remnants of the long history of the estates are largely erased or have disappeared, as happened with the Pombaline boundary stones of Quinta da Costa de Cima and Quinta do Caleiro, from the first demarcation of quality wines, dating from 1758.
Even so, one or another testimony of ancient history can be discovered, namely in the coat-of-arms chapel of Costa de Cima, from the first half of the 18th century, or in the ruins of the house and winery of Quinta do Sol or, still, in the water reservoir structure of the Caleiro stream, with shale walls that preserve signs of the ancient technique of planting vines in “pilheiros”.
On the highest altitudes of Quinta do Sol or on the riverside of Quinta da Costa de Cima, we can still find fragments of low and tortuous walls of ancient vineyard terraces, transformed into “mortories” with the invasion of phylloxera in the second half of the 19th century and covered by forests of spontaneous vegetation, which recovered its place.
It was at the end of the 17th century that Quinta da Costa de Cima originated, belonging to the Taveira family, from Guiães, who prided themselves on being «one of the first three noble families that the Lord King D. Dinis commanded from the city of Lisbon» to this village [Vila Real]".
17th CENTURY
Throughout the 1730s, Francisco José Taveira de Macedo, a knight of the Order of Christ, and his wife, Maria Quitéria da Cunha Pimentel, from the aristocratic Calçada House of Provesende, invested in the construction of the houses at Quinta da Costa de Cima, the whose chapel, invoking St. Francis, linked, in December 1737, one of its vineyards. It was even in one of these houses that the first Douro demarcation commission gathered.
Costa de Cima and Caleiro are included in the first demarcation of the Douro, being classified as properties that produced the best “factory wines” – Port Wines.
Quinta do Caleiro is owned by João Manuel Pereiro da Silva e Sousa Mourão, a young nobleman, knight of the Royal Household who serves as sergeant-major in the district of Vila Real. By that time, the estate produced, on average, 15 barrels of wine per year.
Quinta da Costa de Cima produces 50 barrels of wine, 44 of red, approved for first quality shipment, exportable to Great Britain, and 6 of white. Quinta do Caleiro produces 37 barrels of wine, 31 of red wine (approved as top quality) and 6 of white wine.
The average annual production of Costa de Cima had dropped to 6.5 barrels in 1810. In 1811 José Taveira Pimentel de Carvalho e Menezes took over management and invested in replanting and regular farming. In the 1820s, production increased, in many years exceeding 60-70 pipes per year.
Around this time, Quinta do Sol was created by Tomás Homem de Sousa Quevedo Pizarro, a noble knight of the Royal House.
It was equipped with houses and winery, increasing production over the first few years, from 36 barrels in 1821 to 161 in 1825.
Quinta do Caleiro is inherited by João Manuel Pereira da Silva and Sousa Mourão de Almeida Morais Pessanha, having gone through a period of growth to an average of 100 barrels by mid-century.
João de Almeida Morais Pessanha held important military and political positions, being commander of the national battalion of Vila Real, president of the Chamber of Sabrosa and member of the Chamber of Peers (he was appointed Peer of the Kingdom in 1842).
From the 1850s onwards, plagues, first powdery mildew and then phylloxera, provoked a deep crisis in the Douro.
Death of João de Almeida Morais Pessanha, who left Quinta do Caleiro and other properties to António de Almeida de Morais Pessanha.
In the entire parish of Gouvinhas, the harvest only yields around 20 barrels. At Quinta do Sol, the ruins of the old mansion recall those times of crisis.
From that time on, a titanic effort was made to recover the Douro vineyards, with the planting of American rootstocks and the grafting of regional grape varieties.
Costa de Cima was already one of the estates with the highest production of wine in the parish of Gouvinhas, yielding 50-100 barrels per year. Quinta do Sol, on the other hand, remains abandoned or without significant wine production.
This year they are both sold to Manuel Pinto Hespanhol, whose viticultural investments led to an annual production of around 150 barrels of wine.
In the 1950s, Quinta do Caleiro was mortgaged and later acquired by a member of the Pinto Pizarro family, who, living in Brazil, did not alter the state of abandonment of the estate.
In 1972, Quinta da Costa de Cima and Quinta do Sol were acquired by Mário Joaquim da Rocha Braga.
In 1995, Quinta do Caleiro was acquired by José Manuel Alves Teixeira, who invested his savings in converting the vineyards and renovating the houses.
After the death of Mário Braga in 1999, the sons began a process of rationalizing assets, for sustained growth.
In 2018 they sold the Gouvinhas properties (eight items, including Quinta da Costa de Cima and Quinta do Sol) to the investors Rubens Menin and Cristiano Gomes.
Rubens Menin and Cristiano Gomes join to Quinta da Costa de Cima and Quinta do Sol the Quinta do Caleiro, with 36 hectares.
It was at the end of the 17th century that Quinta da Costa de Cima originated, belonging to the Taveira family, from Guiães, who prided themselves on being «one of the first three noble families that the Lord King D. Dinis commanded from the city of Lisbon» to this village [Vila Real]".
17th CENTURY
Throughout the 1730s, Francisco José Taveira de Macedo, a knight of the Order of Christ, and his wife, Maria Quitéria da Cunha Pimentel, from the aristocratic Calçada House of Provesende, invested in the construction of the houses at Quinta da Costa de Cima, the whose chapel, invoking St. Francis, linked, in December 1737, one of its vineyards. It was even in one of these houses that the first Douro demarcation commission gathered.
Costa de Cima and Caleiro are included in the first demarcation of the Douro, being classified as properties that produced the best “factory wines” – Port Wines.
Quinta do Caleiro is owned by João Manuel Pereiro da Silva e Sousa Mourão, a young nobleman, knight of the Royal Household who serves as sergeant-major in the district of Vila Real. By that time, the estate produced, on average, 15 barrels of wine per year.
Quinta da Costa de Cima produces 50 barrels of wine, 44 of red, approved for first quality shipment, exportable to Great Britain, and 6 of white. Quinta do Caleiro produces 37 barrels of wine, 31 of red wine (approved as top quality) and 6 of white wine.
The average annual production of Costa de Cima had dropped to 6.5 barrels in 1810. In 1811 José Taveira Pimentel de Carvalho e Menezes took over management and invested in replanting and regular farming. In the 1820s, production increased, in many years exceeding 60-70 pipes per year.
Around this time, Quinta do Sol was created by Tomás Homem de Sousa Quevedo Pizarro, a noble knight of the Royal House.
It was equipped with houses and winery, increasing production over the first few years, from 36 barrels in 1821 to 161 in 1825.
Quinta do Caleiro is inherited by João Manuel Pereira da Silva and Sousa Mourão de Almeida Morais Pessanha, having gone through a period of growth to an average of 100 barrels by mid-century.
João de Almeida Morais Pessanha held important military and political positions, being commander of the national battalion of Vila Real, president of the Chamber of Sabrosa and member of the Chamber of Peers (he was appointed Peer of the Kingdom in 1842).
From the 1850s onwards, plagues, first powdery mildew and then phylloxera, provoked a deep crisis in the Douro.
Death of João de Almeida Morais Pessanha, who left Quinta do Caleiro and other properties to António de Almeida de Morais Pessanha.
In the entire parish of Gouvinhas, the harvest only yields around 20 barrels. At Quinta do Sol, the ruins of the old mansion recall those times of crisis.
From that time on, a titanic effort was made to recover the Douro vineyards, with the planting of American rootstocks and the grafting of regional grape varieties.
Costa de Cima was already one of the estates with the highest production of wine in the parish of Gouvinhas, yielding 50-100 barrels per year. Quinta do Sol, on the other hand, remains abandoned or without significant wine production.
This year they are both sold to Manuel Pinto Hespanhol, whose viticultural investments led to an annual production of around 150 barrels of wine.
In the 1950s, Quinta do Caleiro was mortgaged and later acquired by a member of the Pinto Pizarro family, who, living in Brazil, did not alter the state of abandonment of the estate.
In 1972, Quinta da Costa de Cima and Quinta do Sol were acquired by Mário Joaquim da Rocha Braga.
In 1995, Quinta do Caleiro was acquired by José Manuel Alves Teixeira, who invested his savings in converting the vineyards and renovating the houses.
After the death of Mário Braga in 1999, the sons began a process of rationalizing assets, for sustained growth.
In 2018 they sold the Gouvinhas properties (eight items, including Quinta da Costa de Cima and Quinta do Sol) to the investors Rubens Menin and Cristiano Gomes.
Rubens Menin and Cristiano Gomes join to Quinta da Costa de Cima and Quinta do Sol the Quinta do Caleiro, with 36 hectares.
“It was a long process of recovering centuries-old vineyards that were abandoned and with many flaws. We are replanting with exactly the same 54 varieties that are there, reinforcing the sustainability of our terroirs and protecting the diversity of grape varieties that reflect the identity of the Douro. It would be much easier to rip everything off, but that's not what we're aiming for. We want to invest all our efforts in preserving the old vines of the region”.
Cristiano Gomes
Administrator
Winery
The Menin Douro Estates winery has been in operation since 2021. It will open to the public in 2023.
This four-storey building, part of which is underground, rises in Quinta da Costa de Cima, where it works by gravity in accordance with the tradition of the old Douro wineries. Its contemporary architecture combines harmoniously with the existing buildings and the landscape of the Quinta.
Equipped with advanced winemaking technology, it has an installed capacity for the production of 400,000 bottles per year.
Uma adega
de precisão
Tecnologia
Na Menin Douro Estates recorremos às mais modernas tecnologias de viticultura e enologia. Para além do imenso trabalho inicial de reconversão de 14ha, em 2018 / 2019, há um permanente esforço de recuperação das vinhas mais antigas. Ao mesmo tempo, o abrolhamento anual é estritamente controlado a fim de permitir uma alta concentração em cada videira, às custas de uma produção significativamente menor, naturalmente privilegiando a qualidade.
A nova adega foi projetada para funcionar por gravidade, evitando as bombas e protegendo o potencial do vinho, e é dotada dos mais avançados equipamentos de vinificação, sem abrir mão de tradicionais métodos como os lagares de pisa. Trata-se de um edifício icónico, que começou a vinificar em 2021.
Enology
A philosophy of sustainability, quality and long term.
The enology team is formed by Tiago Alves de Sousa, consultant enologist, João Rosa Alves, production director and Manuel Saldanha, resident enologist.
A talented, irreverent team with award-winning merit recognized among peers.
Tiago Alves de Sousa
Licenciado em Engenharia Agrícola pela UTAD, foi distinguido em 2003 com o prémio Fundação Eng. António de Almeida e com a bolsa de mérito do Fundo de Apoio ao Estudante, que é atribuído ao melhor aluno da licenciatura.
Após vários estágios de vindima complementados com cursos de formação em Enologia e Viticultura e uma passagem pelo Instituto de Viticultura da Universidade Católica de Piacenza (Itália), passa, em 2002, a integrar a equipa Alves de Sousa, onde atualmente é diretor técnico e responsável por vários mercados de exportação.
Durante alguns anos acumulou funções com o doutoramento em Viticultura (que concluiu com classificação máxima) no Departamento de Fitotecnia e Engenharia Rural da UTAD, onde pertence, desde 2020, ao corpo docente da licenciatura de Enologia.
Em 2021 aceitou o convite para ser enólogo consultor na Menin Douro Estates, onde participa ativamente no processo e criação dos nossos vinhos.
Premiações:
- Enólogo Revelação 2022 (revista “Paixão pelo Vinho”)
- Enologia 2020 – Douro + Sustentável (IVDP)
- “Enólogo Nacional” pela Ord. Honor. Sta. Maria Ossonóba
João Rosa Alves
Licenciado em Enologia pela UTAD, realizou a sua pós-graduação em Viticultura e Enologia na Faculdade Ciências Universidade do Porto. Para complementar a sua formação realizou um programa executivo de Managing Wine Business na Porto Business School.
Ao longo do seu percurso realizou estágios em diversos locais como Rozés SA, Alves de Sousa, Quinta do Vale Meão, Châteu Graud Larose e Quinta do Vesúvio. Este percurso foi complementado com uma formação em “Sensory Analaysis: A tool for monitoring winemaking” no Institut Des Sciences De la Vigne et du Vin e com o nível 3 em Wine & Spirits Education Trust.
Foi enólogo residente da Quinta do Tedo de 2016 a 2018 e é o atual enólogo e diretor de produção na Menin Douro Estates.
Premiações:
- Enologia 2022 – Douro + Sustentável (IVDP).
Manuel Saldanha
Manuel Saldanha é licenciado em Enologia pela UTAD.
Realizou estágios durante o seu percurso académico na Adega Anselmo Mendes, na Quinta da Canameira e, por fim, na Adega Horta Osório, onde ficou desde 2013 a exercer funções de adega.
Em 2021 passa a integrar também a equipa de Enologia da Menin Douro Estates, após a aquisição da Horta Osório Wines pela Menin Wine Company.
Tem vindo a complementar a sua formação com alguns programas, tendo realizado o nível 2 em Wine & Spirits Education Trust.
Vinhos
A gama DOC inclui vinhos Reserva e Grande Reserva, tintos e brancos, e Porto Vintage. Quando a qualidade o permite, é produzido o D. Beatriz, estrela da gama de tintos. Em parcelas específicas, também sempre que há excecionalidade, são lançadas séries especiais.
DOURO`S NEW LEGACY
RESERVA TINTO 2018
DOURO’S NEW LEGACY RESERVA 2018 é um vinho que apresenta cor rubi intensa, aromas muito finos de ginja, cássis e chocolate preto, onde ao mesmo tempo, manifesta nuances balsâmicas e de cerejeira, noz-moscada e hortelã-pimenta.
MENIN
PORTO VINTAGE
MENIN PORTO VINTAGE é um vinho cor de ruby opaca com laivos violetas. No nariz, apresenta-se muito intenso, com notas de fruta preta, amoras, comporá de groselha preta, fruta vermelha silvestre madura e ligeiro balsâmico a transmitir frescura.
MENIN
PORTO LATE BOTTLED VINTAGE
Deep ruby colored wine. On the nose it reveals blueberry jam and other forest fruits, sour cherries and black pepper, with light herbal notes. Very charming mouth and with a beautiful balance between all its different dimensions.
MENIN
GRANDE RESERVA RED
MDE GRANDE RESERVA RED is a wine with a deep ruby color. The aroma highlights all the freshness of red and black fruit, with plenty of nuances of black currant, blackberry, berries and balsamic notes to give balance to the set.
MENIN
GRANDE RESERVA WHITE
MDE GRANDE RESERVA WHITE was born from a selection o parcels of the ARINTO variety. In the aroma, it presents very fine notes of citrus fruit, white fruit, nuances of the aging in oak barrels and plenty of minerality.
MENIN
TINTA RORIZ
Wine with a very balanced profile between wild red fruits (red currants, red plums), black cherries, forest fruits and spices from the stage in barrel increase the complexity of the whole.
MENIN
TOURIGA FRANCA
Wine with a very pure varietal profile, where the variety demonstrates the intensity of black and red fruits (blackberries, black currants, black plums and wild forest fruits) and some blue fruit reminiscent of blueberries, but always balanced by the floral sensations of rose petals.
MENIN
TOURIGA NACIONAL
MENIN Touriga Nacional 2020 is a wine with a rich and complex profile, with a good balance between the fruity character, where the notes of black and red fruits stand out, and the floral character typical of the grape variety, violet and earl gray.
MENIN
RESERVA RED
MENIN RESERVA 2019 is a wine that presents a ruby color, a full aroma of fresh fruit, with notes of wild red fruits, blackberries, plums, in perfect harmony with the spicy nuances conferred by the aging in barrels.
MENIN
RESERVA WHITE
MENIN RESERVA WHITE is a wine of citrine yellow color and medium intensity. The aroma is very elegant, with floral notes of white flowers, white-fleshed fruit (pear), green grapefruit and barrel spices reminiscent of brioche and white pepper.
The Douro is precious,
much beyond wine.
With unique characteristics, our olive oil is also a product of great quality.
Olive Oil
This unique terroir, which gives rise to the most renowned fine wine in the world, is the same that provides the production of sweet olive oils with a high aromatic complexity. Like our wines, Menin olive oil is a distinct product, captivating at the table and memorable on the palate.
OLIVE OIL EXTRA VIRGIN
DOURO PREMIUM
Extra virgin olive oil produced from the varieties that come from centenary olive trees of the Quintas da Costa de Cima and Sol. Harvesting is carried out manually, so it is possible to preserve the structure of the tree.
