Viticulture

On Quinta do Zambujeiro, we use a mix of conventional and biological farming practices.

We do not use any herbicides and protect our soils with natural cover crops over the wet winter season. The goal is to preserve and protect the beautiful nature and terroir of the estate. The base of our wines is the vineyard. Our skilled workers treat every vine with great care. Without the hard work in sometimes-harsh weather conditions, we could not produce these great wines.

We strongly believe that only vineyards with low yields can produce wines with high concentration in flavor and taste, made for a long life in the bottle. We reduce all our vineyards in yield. The average harvest is 23 hl per hectare.

Winemaking

Our wines are completely hand made. All grapes are handpicked. We use gentle grape-and wine-handling techniques, grapes are transported in small plastic crates, never pumped. Each grape is controlled before going into the wine; our customers should not drink what we would not like to eat!

The grapes are fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks and in small fermenting tanks of French oak. Depending on the wine style, we use selected or spontaneous yeast strains. Pump overs and pigeage are used to submerge the skins. Long macerations on skins up to 6 weeks extract tannins and color. Malo-lactic fermentation takes place in barrels. All red wines are barrel matured in French oak for up to two years and bottled without any filtration or fining. Our wines are made for a long life in the bottle and will age slowly to perfection over many years. Please store carefully below 15°C.

Certification

Our winery is HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) certified.

Our Wines