Project

Pedro Lencart and Isabel Sarmento are the faces of the Quinta dos Lagares project.

The couple took over the management of this farm from the Lencart family in 2007 and, since then, have sought to preserve and enhance this natural and agricultural heritage.

Sensitive to sustainability issues, Pedro and Isabel seek to maintain a balance between the agricultural areas of vineyards and olive groves and the areas of spontaneous vegetation and forest that still exist on the farm.

This forest cover extends throughout the property, cutting through the agricultural areas and thus ensuring not only the refuge of auxiliary fauna for the protection of the vineyard and olive grove but also a discontinuity of vegetation that enriches the landscape and contributes to the maintenance of biodiversity while ensuring a more balanced management of water and soil.

In order to take advantage of and potentiate this floristic diversity, honey, cork, and olive oil are explored, in addition to the vineyard, the latter produced from the olive grove in organic production mode.

The couple has also been making investments throughout the property, especially in the recovery of vineyards and the renovation of the winemaking facilities, part of which, the “lagares” (wine press), are installed on the first floor of the house that dates back to the late eighteenth century.

In 2013 the new winery was inaugurated, keeping, however, the traditional granite “Lagares” that were modernized allowing for a better control of vinification and greater flexibility of operation.

In 2019 a tasting room was also inaugurated where visitors, who want to know the wines of Quinta dos Lagares and enjoy pleasant moments in a room with unique views, are received.

QUINTA

Quinta dos Lagares is located on the left bank of the river Pinhão, in the place of Vale de Mendiz and Região Demarcada do Douro. It has 70 hectares, of which 27 are vineyards, 12 are organic olive groves and 31 are forests where Mediterranean species predominate, namely strawberry tree, holm oak, cork oak, juniper, black oak, and chestnut. A small vegetable garden is also kept for domestic consumption, as is the tradition in the Douro region.

The Quinta has five granite presses, located under the main house, and a chapel. All these constructions were built in the nineteenth century, having been initiated around the year 1815.

VINEYARDS

The vineyards of Quinta dos Lagares develop in an amphitheater-shaped valley centered to the west, with southern exposures running northward, and with an altitude ranging from 230 to 560 meters. Over 60% of the vineyards are between 40 and 79 years old, with the oldest vineyard dating from 1944.

The old vineyards are a mix of the traditional varieties of the Douro region, with 30 identified varieties. The most recent vineyards have extreme stands of the red varieties Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão, and Sousão, and the white varieties Viosinho, Rabigato, and Malvasia Fina.

The vineyards are worked in certified integrated production mode.

OLIVE GROVES

Olive oil production has always been a preference of the Quinta dos Lagares owners, even before the Lencart family. There was even a private olive oil mill that was deactivated at the beginning of the 1950s. 

In the already centennial olive groves, currently kept in certified organic production, olive trees of the varieties Cordovil, Bical, Verdeal, Madural, and Cobrançosa are randomly distributed, except in 1 hectare of the olive grove of Cobrançosa extreme planted about 10 years ago. From them, olive oil is obtained, always classified as Extra Virgin, with very good sensorial classification and very low acidity.

HISTORY

The Pombalino landmark which has the number 86 in the survey made by the Douro Museum is the most distant trace in the time of Quinta dos Lagares. Placed there by order of the Marquis of Pombal during the demarcations between 1756 and 1761, this symbol of the Douro attests to the property’s good aptitude for producing Port Wine. Even today, in fact, the vineyards of the Quinta are almost all classified with the letter A – the best category of this historic process of cataloging the vineyards of the Douro for the production of the famous Port Wine.

Quinta dos Lagares has been in the possession of the Lencart family since 1920.