A nurse, a sommelier and a farmer walk into a bar…
Sounds like the beginning of a great story? It’s no joke, this is our story.
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
This is where we started in 2018
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 the skills of a generational understanding of the winemaking process, where he learnt alongside his father, a small producer in Bairrada producing wine for his friends.
And so the adventure began.
Inside a borrowed garage in Lisbon and all we had was 1 barrel and three 500L steel tanks we’d found online. It was a science lab, where our creations came to life.
We produce 3000 bottles that year.
Our Concept
Winemaking on wheels
We take disadvantages, and make them our USP. No vineyard of our own? No problem, it was an opportunity to travel around the country and harvest the most classic grapes from distinct Portuguese regions.
In 2019 we rented a small old winery in Torres Vedras and made our first trip to Dão. We harvested during the day, brought the grapes at night 4 hours away from our headquarters.
Our project had grown to a small winery with hand-selected grapes from distinct regions in Portugal.
With just a manual press and no liquid pump, in that year we moved 7500 buckets of wine to produce 5000 bottles.
In 2020 we went through Trás-os-Montes, the most extreme point up North on the Portugal map, where organic viticulture is traditional.
Our journey to collect grapes was 7 hours from the winery.
After those 7 hours of driving we would cut the grapes by hand. These hands cut grapes in 5 different regions from North to South that very year.
During all this, Luís continues to work at the hospital, Diogo at the restaurant and Guilherme with his father. Still we continued to grow.
In 2020 we made 12000 bottles.
Keeping our daily jobs has allowed us to grow sustainably, just like we sell our bottles and produce in the way that we believe is best.
Our Winery.
2021 is year zero.
In 2021 we realised it’s time to make the science lab our own. Our own vineyard would allow us to control the whole process and be able to complete the cycle.
Before starting the harvest, we managed to find the ideal place to settle down.
An abandoned winery in Setúbal with an old castelão vineyard.
The proximity of the winery to Lisbon was the same as Torres Vedras and it was located in the same region we’d picked our first barrel from in Setúbal. It made sense, we took the risk and invested in the purchase.
Back then, the entire space was occupied by gigantic concrete deposits and huge mills that needed to be knocked down. We wanted to create an open-space where we could produce wines on a micro scale that allow us to produce and diversify further our limited editions.
Obviously maintaining and recovering all artifacts that have archaeological value or future usage.
In 2021 we already aged wine in this new winery, winemaking continued to be done in Torres Vedras, but in 2022 we launched a Crowdfunding that helped us with the first demolition works so that we could call this space our headquarters.
Thanks to the help of friends, family and fans of the project, we were able to prepare the cellar for this last harvest. Also, Crowdfunding was great for us to reflect on the direction of the brand, create these texts and help us better communicate the crazy things we do with you.
2022 was a very difficult year due to the extreme weather that was felt all over the country. We had some production losses, but for the first time we took care of our old vines Castelão throughout the entire cycle. This is something we are proud of. And also we are grateful for the contribution of all those who have helped us along the way and all those who have promoted our wines around the world. Without you it wouldn’t be possible, thank you, we really feel blessed!
