About Us
A nurse, a sommelier and a farmer walk into a bar… Sounds like the beginning of a great story? That’s because it is.
That’s more or less how we met, at university to become master’s in making wine. It’s where we realized that with the help of science and doing everything on a small scale, you can make wine that tastes good, naturally.
We are based in Lisbon, Portugal and the current wine market didn’t satisfy our thirst and we wanted something more… something, different.
The industry we saw was repetitive, aided by additives and cheats to create the same taste. So, we started our own project, with a new and big idea.
From a garage to the world
Luís, the Nurse, brought the barrel of orange wine made during his internship in Setúbal. A barrel that was left apart (hence our name) in the cellar after he left.
Diogo, the Sommelier, brought his unique tasting expertise by sampling classic wines from around the world in one of Lisbon’s most renown restaurants.
Guilherme, the Farmer, brought skills of a generational understanding of the winemaking process, learnt alongside his father, a small producer in Bairrada.
The wine market at the time just didn’t have it for us. We were craving something different. Everything was the same, again and again. Aided by additives and cheats that just ended up creating the same taste, again and again. We took our chance and created APRT3.
And so the adventure began.
From a garage to the world
Luís, the Nurse, brought the barrel of orange wine made during his internship in Setúbal. A barrel that was left apart (hence our name) in the cellar after he left.
Diogo, the Sommelier, brought his unique tasting expertise by sampling classic wines from around the world in one of Lisbon’s most renown restaurants.
Guilherme, the Farmer, brought skills of a generational understanding of the winemaking process, learnt alongside his father, a small producer in Bairrada.
The wine market at the time just didn’t have it for us. We were craving something different. Everything was the same, again and again. Aided by additives and cheats that just ended up creating the same taste, again and again. We took our chance and created APRT3.
And so the adventure began.
Made a Concept Out of a Need
Not owning a vineyard became our USP. This was our opportunity to travel all over Portugal and harvest the most classic grapes in different regions.
We rented a small old winery in Torres Vedras and made our first trip to Dão in the same year. We harvested during the day and travelled 4 hours back at night.
Our project had grown to a small winery with hand-selected grapes from distinct regions all over Portugal. With just a manual press and no liquid pump, we moved 7500 buckets of wine to produce 5000 bottles.
Trás-os-Montes is one of the northernmost regions of Portugal where organic viticulture is a traditional practice, and that meant a 7-hour trip from the winery to pick grapes by hand. Our bare hands went on to pick grapes in 5 different regions all over the country that very year.
While we were travelling the country to hand-select grapes, Luís kept working at the hospital, Diogo at the restaurant and Guilherme with his father. Keeping our daily jobs allowed us to grow sustainably, just like we produce and sell our bottles.
We went on growing to reach 12000 bottles.
Year Zero or When We Became Winery Owners
Eventually we realised it was time to build our own science lab, allowing us to control the whole process and be able to complete the cycle. We managed to find the perfect place even before starting the harvest.
Back then, the entire space was made of gigantic concrete deposits and huge mills that had to be knocked down. We wanted an open space where we could produce wines on a micro scale and further diversify our limited editions. Obviously maintaining and recovering all artifacts with archaeological value or future usage.
It was an abandoned winery in Setúbal with an old Castelão vineyard. Located as far from Lisbon as Torres Vedras, and in the same region we’d picked our first barrel. Coincidence? We think not. It made sense, so we went for it and bought it.
Year Zero or When We Became Winery Owners
Eventually we realised it was time to build our own science lab, allowing us to control the whole process and be able to complete the cycle. We managed to find the perfect place even before starting the harvest.
Back then, the entire space was made of gigantic concrete deposits and huge mills that had to be knocked down. We wanted an open space where we could produce wines on a micro scale and further diversify our limited editions. Obviously maintaining and recovering all artifacts with archaeological value or future usage.
It was an abandoned winery in Setúbal with an old Castelão vineyard. Located as far from Lisbon as Torres Vedras, and in the same region we’d picked our first barrel. Coincidence? We think not. It made sense, so we went for it and bought it.
We were already aging wine in the new winery; winemaking was still done in Torres Vedras. It was time to make the Setúbal winery our headquarters.
The first thing we did was launch a Crowdfunding project that would support us in the first demolition works. Thanks to friends, family and fans, we were able to prepare the cellar just in time for the harvest. We are grateful for everyone who supported us then and has carried on helping us along the way, also promoting our wines around the world.
The year turned out to be more challenging than we were expecting due to extreme weather conditions. But despite some production losses, for the first time we were able to take care of our old Castelão vines throughout the entire cycle. And this is something we are proud of.
In 2023 we joined our first major event. We had already done smaller festivals, but Simplesmente Vinho in Porto is a real reference for us.
The Alvorone project with Soalheiro was launched during both Simplesmente and Essência do Vinho. At the same time, we released two NFTs. Anyone who collects them can receive an exclusive bottle of this wine. The NFT artwork was created with Laura Andrade from UnthinkIllustrations.
This is the year we restructure our vineyard, with new plantation of different varieties alongside the old vines of Castelão.
View the NFT
In 2023 we joined our first major event. We had already done smaller festivals, but Simplesmente Vinho in Porto is a real reference for us.
The Alvorone project with Soalheiro was launched during both Simplesmente and Essência do Vinho. At the same time, we released two NFTs. Anyone who collects them can receive an exclusive bottle of this wine. The NFT artwork was created with Laura Andrade from UnthinkIllustrations.
This is the year we restructure our vineyard, with new plantation of different varieties alongside the old vines of Castelão.
View the NFT
This year we created a Treasure Hunt in Porto to promote our wines. Back at Simplesmente, we hid bottles around the city and shared clues so people could find them. It was a huge success and we want to repeat in Lisbon.
We also travelled to Germany. In Düsseldorf, together with our friend Toni Askitis, we hosted a tasting with Holger Kurt Jäger making the graffiti from the Trendition label, a collaborative wine.
We were also invited to MessWein in Bochum, a wine fair held inside a church, alongside some of the best German producers.
Simplesmente became our playground for street-style ideas.
We dropped a passport game across Porto: Challenges, wine bars, glasses earned along the way, and a final reward: entry to WineRave Porto, dancing until 6am with top DJs and our Ambar flowing.
The highlight of the year was ProWein Düsseldorf. Inside the German pavilion we joined Ask Toni’s Urban Gastronomy: Tastings, pairings with Michelin guests, parties and pure energy.
We even turned our stand into a collective painting. Raw, loud and unforgettable.
We do not use additives in our wines other than a small amount of sulfites. Sometimes not even sulfites.
We only make wine from grapes that come from sustainable agriculture.
Our partnering farmers are dedicated toward the protection and conservation of their land and the surrounding ecosystem.
We contribute to a circular economy and a greener carbon footprint by purchasing products and services around our headquarters, supporting local businesses in doing so.
We don’t use plastic in our cellar, our boxes and tape are made of basic cardboard and we use organic wax to cover the cork of our bottles.
We started to recycle our waste and we are creating new labels with it.
APRT3 is a project with people at the forefront.
We practice fair trade by purchasing grapes in remote locations at reasonable prices.
There are over 250 indigenous grapes in Portugal and our intention is to keep them alive.
We engage in sustainable business practices with our farmers so that they continue to protect the crop that creates distinctive wines.
We are teaching them the importance of revival as these are the very crops that make Portugal a distinct wine producing country.
We cannot risk losing evidence that marks our wine, culture and history.
By supporting our wines you’re supporting our artists.
Whenever we launch a new label or reproduce preview artwork you are financially supporting the artist’s development by engaging with our wine.
Wine as Art.
