Classico Alvarinho

Our ‘Clássico’ has the elegance to make an excellent aperitif or complement lighter-flavoured dishes. It pairs well with foods such as seafood, grilled fish, white meats, matured cheeses, smoked meats, or Asian and Mediterranean gastronomies.

As far as our memory goes, Alvarinho was always present in our Territory. In our region, grapevines were traditionally planted around the outskirts of a parcel, with grains cultivated in the centre. In 1974, João António Cerdeira and his parents, António Esteves Ferreira and Maria Cerdeira, decided to break from tradition and plant a full parcel as a continuous vineyard of Alvarinho. Since this first innovation of João António, our family has been linked to the development of Alvarinho cultivation in Melgaço. Today, third-generation family members, siblings Maria João and António Luís, along with their mother Maria Palmira Cerdeira, have embraced this spirit of innovation. António Luís, with a graduate degree in oenology, has built a profound knowledge of the Alvarinho grape variety throughout his life. Maria João, a veterinarian by profession, assumed the responsibility for viticulture and successfully introduced organic farming into our vineyards. Our innovative vision extends to the Territory and includes the sustainable revitalisation of the surrounding rural area. This has led us to invest in wine tourism and, most recently, in herbal tea production.

Monção and Melgaço, the most northern region of Portugal, is protected by mountains that form a unique microclimate. This allows a perfect marriage between rainfall, temperature, and the number of hours of sunshine needed for the best maturation of Alvarinho grapes. The microclimate in Monção and Melgaço is especially important during ripening, when hot days alternate with cold nights, enabling the development of fresh and fruity aromas and an acidity that is present, but moderate - just the way we like it for our Soalheiro Alvarinho.

The grapes are harvested by hand. Between pressing and fermentation, the must is clarified at a low temperature. The wine ferments in stainless steel and matures on fine lees before bottling. The objective of vinification is to obtain a wine that showcases the grapes' high quality, resulting in good evolution in the bottle.