We do not choose our passion for wines –the wines choose us, they carry us along and drag us on a flood until we feel our lives full and unrecognizable. This happened to José da Mota Capitão, the agronomist who raised the vineyards of Herdade de Portocarro on the quiet Sado river banks. There he recreated, for the joy of the wine lovers, gracious wines, of delicate acidity, with such vibrating freshness, that it seems they have arrived from afar carrying only the good things of the world.

The estate has served the inexhaustible imagination of its patron, hosting remote wine varieties like the Italian Sangiovese, or the regional forgotten ones like Galego Dourado, a symbol of Carcavelos. Its privileged location – on the river banks, benefiting from the sea breeze mixed with the warmth of the Alentejo breath – invites to exoticism. The immensity of the rice fields, where vineyards had never been seen before, hides a strong appeal to creativity.

This appeal has been answered energetically. Within a little over than a decade three amazing wines were created: Herdade de Portocarro, a blend of Aragonez, Alfrocheiro and Cabernet Sauvignon; Cavalo Maluco, a cheerful homage to the most famous Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, with Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Petit Verdot; and the Anima, made from the Italian wine variety Sangiovese, a fresh, elegant and very gastronomical red inspired in the legendary Brunello di Montalcino.

Next the Alfaiate, a blend of Sercial, Galego Dourado, Arinto and Antão Vaz, a fresh, dry, and timeless wine. And also Autocarro Nº 27, defined by the wine critic João Paulo Martins as “a Herdade de Portocarro without a barrel stage”, for it only stays in wine vats after fermentation.

The flame, grace and vivacity of this portfolio have greatly contributed for the remarkable prestige of the producer that welcomes the warm enthusiasm of the critics without losing the respect for the terroir, in an Estate as fertile as the imagination of the one who explores it.