Address: Cambres- 5110-424 Lamego Portugal
Phone: +351 254 313 228
Website: http://quintadapacheca.edmwines.com/
Tours and tastings available, preferably with a reservation.

“Located in the heart of the oldest and most traditional demarcated sector of the Douro wine producing territory (1757 – Royal Decree), the Quinta da Pacheca has 36 hectares of vineyards, which are mentioned in the oldest documents relating to vineyards in the Douro Valley.

The existing manor house of the Quinta is a large and elegant building dating back tp the 18th century, however there are also 15th and 16th century building remnants to be seen. In addition, some middle age ruins exist within the estate that tradition attributes to the first establishment of the owner’s family before the foundation of Portuguese monarchy in 1140. Along with the wine making facilities and vineyards, the manor offers a nice restaurant and will shortly offer 14 luxury rooms in what was once the antique wine cellars.

Wine production in Quinta da Pacheca was for centuries centered on Port Wine – so called only since the 18th and 19th centuries, before being known as the Royal Court Wine, in addition to small quantities of red and white wine, made only for consumption by the family. At Quinta da Pacheca after the phylloxera disaster and the subsequent substantial recover work, a comprehensive renovation program commenced in 1932, both with regard to the vineyards and the wine cellars. These efforts were continued after 1956 especially regarding the modernization of wine cellars and the production of Douro red and white wines and vintage Port, derived from traditional grapevines produced with modern wine-making methods.

This renovation program was undertaken principally by Eduardo Serpa Pimentel who assumed the wine making responsibility in 1975.  In fact, Eduardo has been responsible for establishing the Quinta Wine concept, which in the past 30 years has resulted in the modernization of both Portuguese viticulture and enology. Until the late nineteen fifties, wine growers and wine makers produced grapes and bulk wines, which were then sold to wine merchants. With its origin at Quinta da Pacheca in the beginning of the 60’s, a slow but steady revolution started, where the most well-informed Quinta owners began to bottle and sell their Quinta Wines directly to the market.

Since then, as a consequence of their increasing quality, the Quinta wines have affirmed themselves and gained a market and a reputation all over Europe.  This evolution has been possible thanks to the subsequent consolidation of the Quinta Wines concept led by Quinta da Pacheca.  In effect, the inexperience of the ready early 60’s concerning the bottling and sales of wines at Quinta da Pacheca, has evolved in a new philosophy of living making and selling wine.

Today, for most of Europe’s wine lovers, a Quinta wine signifies that besides having been made and bottled in a specific terroir, the Quinta’s owner carefully produces and selects such wines, conferring upon them quality, personality and authenticity without which, a good wine cannot become a great wine.”

Quinta da Pacheca, one of the best known estates in the Douro region, was also one of the first properties to bottle wine under its own label. It is first mentioned in a document dated April 1738, where is it referred as “Pacheca’s”, because it was property of D. Mariana Pacheco Pereira. But it was only in 1903, when Dom José Freire de Serpa Pimentel decided to  develop his interest in oenology, that he bought the estate and began to seriously dedicate himself to the risky business of winemaking. Today, a century and many successes later, a brand-new generation of the Serpa Pimentel family is at the head of Quinta da Pacheca: Maria, Catarina and José are the young new faces of this family old company.

The Quinta is in the process of turning their wine cellar into a lodge offering 14 modern rooms. The kitchen is now open and offers a wide range of traditional dishes that match perfectly with the Quinta’s wine offerings.