Our Approach — Regenerative Viticulture
Maintaining ground cover between vines is one of our core practices. Depending on the objectives of each plot, we work with natural or sown ground covers: legumes to increase soil fertility; cruciferous roots to decompact the soil; grasses to control vigor when necessary.
Any ground cover always fulfills two transversal functions: weed control through competition and erosion control. The benefits to the soil are physical, as it improves structure, water and air permeability, and increases water reserves; chemical, by favoring the formation of the exchange complex; and biological, as it stimulates soil microbiology and all it’s chain benefits.
Maintaining ground cover between vines is one of our core practices. Depending on the objectives of each plot, we work with natural or sown ground covers: legumes to increase soil fertility; cruciferous roots to decompact the soil; grasses to control vigor when necessary.
Any ground cover always fulfills two transversal functions: weed control through competition and erosion control. The benefits to the soil are physical, as it improves structure, water and air permeability, and increases water reserves; chemical, by favoring the formation of the exchange complex; and biological, as it stimulates soil microbiology and all it’s chain benefits.
THE PILLARS
Pilar I - Roots with Memory
Our oldest vines are more than one hundred years old.
They are not just the origin of our best wines;
They are living genetic reserves, archives of biodiversity that the Douro has been building over generations.
As members of the Old Vine Conference, we believe
that preserving old vines is an act of agricultural conservation, not just a winemaking choice.
Pilar II - Living Soil
Desde 2024, desenvolvemos um ensaio de campo de três anos com a Universidade de Aveiro, o CESAM e a Entogreen , testando um fertilizante orgânico derivado de insectos nas nossas vinhas em Valença do Douro.
O frass; a matéria orgânica produzida pelas larvas da Hermetia illucens, alimentadas com bagaço de azeitona, devolve ao solo aquilo que a terra já conhece: matéria viva, activa, circular.
Os resultados preliminares mostram maior actividade enzimática, maior capacidade de retenção de água e crescente teor em matéria orgânica. A ciência começa aqui.
O destino são as vinhas centenárias da Vinha das Silvas.
Pilar III - From the Olive Tree to the Vineyard
Next to Vinha das Silvas, there is an organically certified olive grove.
In 2025, we produced the estate’s first certified organic olive oil — a milestone that links the land surrounding our most iconic wine to a formal ecological practice.
Pilar IV - The Ocean inside Douro
The Ocean Aged project was born from a simple yet audacious idea: to age Port wine ten meters deep in the Atlantic.
But what began as innovation became something more: a partnership with Lisbon’s Oceanarium that brought marine educators to São João da Pesqueira to teach children from the Douro interior about the ocean and its conservation.
The project didn’t stop at the first edition – Currently, a Crusted Port aged in the ocean is underway, with a planned release in 2027. A Port producer who uses the sea to age wine, and uses this platform to bring the ocean closer to people who feel far from it, and to remind them that the responsibility of preserving it belongs to everyone,
in a world that only works in circles.
Pilar V - Water and Resilience
The Douro is a semi-arid region where summer drought is an increasing reality. Responsible water management is not an option, it is a necessity and a responsibility.
Our old vines have developed deep root systems over decades that reduce dependence on irrigation. The vegetation cover retains soil moisture.
And the results of the University of Aveiro trial confirm this with data: the water retention capacity increased significantly in all plots fertilized between January 2024 and July 2025.
Caring for the soil is also caring for the water.
OUR NUMBERS
Regenerative Viticulture Practices
Old Vine Conference
Old Vine Registry
