Portugal’s largest wine producer Sogrape, which produces Mateus wines, is to invest “several millions” in viticulture at its 450-hectare Herdade do Peso estate — which represents 10% of its current vineyard area worldwide.
The estate in the Vidigueira region of the Alentejo was purchased in the 1990s because of its “excellent natural conditions” for wine production.
Fernando Guedes, son of the founder and father of the current CEO (of the same name), said the acquisition of the estate that currently accounts for 10% of the total area of vineyards that Sogrape has worldwide — in addition to Portugal, it has vineyards in Spain, Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand – began a project to modernise cultivation and production at the Alentejo estate that included a new winery and replanting vines.
Now, three decades later, the largest Portuguese wine group has continued to invest in Vidigueira. Raquel Seabra, an executive board member at Sogrape, said in an interview with online news service ECO that investment by the company had been gradual but has recently been investing several millions in viticulture.
This has enabled the company to achieve a deep knowledge of the estate’s soils, its different ‘terroirs’ and the way in which each grape variety and clone behaves.
The latest investment involves a total planting area of 42 hectares of vines with grape varieties such as Alicante Bouschet, Tinta Miúda, Touriga Franca and Grand Noir (reds) or Antão Vaz, Verdelho and Viognier (whites).
Within the estate, 160 hectares is for wine, 100 for olive oil, and 20 occupied by a reservoir and allied watering system.
Sogrape has just launched three new wines from its estate in Vidigueira: Herdade do Peso Parcelas 2018 (RRP €50), Herdade do Peso Revelado 2019 (RRP €15) and Herdade do Peso Reserva which will come onto the market in 2023.
