Portugal

A Grandmother's Dream

Family-owned Quinta de Santiago has been on the same site since 1899. For over a hundred years the family has been growing and selling wine, olives, fruit, and cereals until the day in 2009 when the boutique winery Quinta de Santiago came into being, on the initiative of the grandmother “Mariazinha”. 86 years old. She decided it was time to do something different with grapes and wine from the family's property and the rest, as so often, is history. With three generations of expertise, they have chosen to focus on terroir-driven wines with the local and typical Alvarinho grape variety, complemented by other indigenous grape varieties from the Minho region. There is also a lot of experimentation with both amphora pots and shell contact in the cellar... The first vintage 2012 was sold as late as 2014 and today the winery is run by Joana Santiago, with the same energy and drive that Mariazinha had in her vision for the project.