Quinta da Aveleda partially purchased and will explore Quinta Morgado da Torre, in Portimão. The country's largest producer of green, responsible for brands such as Aveleda, or Casal Garcia, will also start producing wines in the Algarve, announced today the Algarve Wine Commission (CVA).
«After analyzing the market and evaluating the region, the presence of the largest producer of Vinho Verde and one of the largest national exporters in the Algarve Wine Region is now official, following a trend of diversification of producer markets and confirming the attractiveness of the region for the wine production”, stresses the CVA.
After the arrival in 2014 of Casa Santos Lima to the region, where it began its production of wine with the IGP Algarve classification, it is now Quinta da Aveleda SA, which «has joined the batch of 41 producers registered with the CVA, the largest number recorded after the recovery of the sector in the Algarve, which took place from the 2000s onwards”, congratulates the Algarve Wine Commission.
According to CVA, Quinta da Aveleda's investment «starts from Quinta do Morgado da Torre, in a business that involves its partial purchase and exploitation, continuing the project by João O'Neill Mendes, started in 1998, and which is now will take a new direction with a view to the group's growth in the region and the recognition of the Algarve Wines, which will start to be produced in the next vintages, already with the finger of the Aveleda Group».
For Carlos Gracias, president of CVA, «new producers are always welcome in the region, and they will contribute to the increase in the notoriety and recognition of Algarve Wines. It is with the contribution of all the estates, wineries and producers in the region that we will consolidate the offer of differentiating wines "author wines", create a wide range of wine tourism units and develop a unique and attractive wine region. National and international".
Martim Guedes, one of the administrators of Quinta da Aveleda explains, in a conversation with CVA, that the bet on the Algarve took place after Filipe Vasconcelos, from Morgado do Quintão, had given to taste some Algarve wines.
«The wines were a pleasant surprise and we realized that the region is already making great quality wines. We were immediately curious to understand why, the soils, the climate, the varieties… we realized that it has the potential to become a great wine region and we want to be part of that path. That's why we decided to invest», he says.
For Martim Guedes, the Algarve «can bring to our portfolio a set of different and complementary wines to those we already make in Vinhos Verdes, Douro and Bairrada. But above all, we feel that there is enormous potential in the Algarve market itself, especially in the HORECA channel, which values the region's wines, but where the vast majority of consumption is still from other regions. We are certain that this will change and it will become more and more natural for those visiting the Algarve to drink local wines. Therefore, our first objective is to be present in the sales channels in the region, with a very qualitative positioning».
In the long term, the head of Quinta da Aveleda says that “our ambition is great. Because we feel that the region can go far, which in the last 15 years has taken a very important qualitative path, but which has not yet been fully disclosed. We believe that Algarve wines must be the reference wine in the region, but also outside it. We haven't started marketing yet and we already have orders, from the USA, Canada….the name Algarve is very well known and generates a lot of interest».
The company's other “dream” is wine tourism. «The region needs to diversify its offer beyond the beach and golf, wine tourism makes perfect sense. And our reading is that this demand is not only in the summer, but throughout the year. That's why we are going to make an important investment in wine tourism», he adds.
About the purchase of Quinta do Morgado da Torre, Martim Guedes explains that «we visited several properties in the Algarve and Quinta do Morgado da Torre had perfect conditions: it is in the influence area of the Serra de Monchique, meaning that it has a mild Mediterranean climate; excellent clay-limestone soils; part of the farm is flat (excellent for white varieties) and part sloped (excellent for red varieties)».
In addition, «the location, in Alvor, has excellent access to enhance wine tourism. Thus, we bought part of the assets of Quinta do Morgado da Torre, and rented others, leaving all these assets within Aveleda SA. Very important was the continued exploration of the brands (mainly Alvor) and the business, started in 1998 by João O'Neill Mendes, which played a key role in raising the quality of Algarve wines, with his wines already enjoying great prestige and recognition".
For Martim Guedes, the Algarve «needed to gain consistency in its wines, but it is already on that path. Now it needs investment in vineyards and communication, and then we can have a role to play. It will take some time to better understand the way forward. At the outset, it has all the natural conditions to become an international reference in quality rosés, but we need to see if that possibility is confirmed», he concludes.
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