In 1955 Adega de Borba was the first in a series of Alentejo wineries established with the support of the Junta Nacional do Vinho (a national wine planning agency). Back then wine was not as central to the local economy as it is today. In fact, had it not been for these governmental incentives for the production and sale of the Alentejo wines, vine culture might have completely disappeared from the region because most of the subsidies in that period were destined to grain production in an attempt to make the Alentejo the country’s “bread basket”.
For three decades, it was only the inherent value of the local grape varieties in conjunction with excellent natural conditions that enabled the Alentejo production to continue until the 1980s. That was the turning point at which the potential of the region began to receive consumer recognition. The region also benefitted from the existence of large wineries that could afford to invest in technology more easily than producers in other parts of the country.
This gave the Alentejo the advantage and allowed us to bottle high quality wine at a time when the public was becoming more demanding and turning its attention from quantity to quality. The truth is that two institutional factors were key to this process: the demarcation of the Alentejo region in 1998 and the creation of associative organisations that brought new technologies within the reach the grape growers.
The explosion in popularity that Alentejo wines have been enjoying recently has been the result of extensive work both in the vineyard – selecting the best varieties and the best soils – and the winery, improving processes and investing in equipment, oftentimes without any immediate payback. All of this transformation took place far from the public eye at a time when the obvious focus of the region was elsewhere rather than in the wine production.
The Adega de Borba currently brings together 300 grape growers who cultivate nearly 2,000 hectares of grapes, 70% dedicated to red varieties and 30% to white.
In their unending search to improve the quality of their products, Adega de Borba is currently undertaking a scheme to bring grape growers into closer contact with the winery in order to further nurture their drive to make great wines. In addition to selecting and cultivating the best grape varieties and applying the best technology, the Adega de Borba believes that only the close collaboration of the grape growers in the winemaking process will continue to further improve their products. This will also allow them to realise the region’s full potential to craft exceptional wines.
The Alentejo is located in southern Portugal. The world means, literally, ‘beyond the Tagus’ due to the fact that it is located to the south of the river of the same name. It is Portugal’s largest region, occupying 1/3 of the national territory. It has all the requisite attributes for producing wines of extremely high levels of both quality and expressiveness. The demarcated region of the Alentejo currently accounts for 42% of the quality bottled wine sold in the Portuguese domestic market.
Between its members, the Adega de Borba can bring together a wide range of vines and grape varieties. An on-going process engages and supports grape growers in a process of total integration of quality control from the vineyard to the bottle (including traceability and image of the vineyard plots). With respect to the vineyards, an internal GIS (geographical information system) allows for continual updating of the records of the grape growers and the identification of the characteristics of each vineyard plot with the following information: grower’s name, soil type, spacing (between vines and between rows), year of planting, rootstock, grape varieties and year of grafting.
With respect to the improvement of the vine training techniques, we have been working intensely on canopy management (canopy height and trellising) in order to allow the use of mechanisation, the introduction of irrigation and green harvesting.
Recently Adega de Borba has been investing heavily in wine tourism. There is a large tasting room, an auditorium that seats 60 people and a conference room that holds 150 for organising business meetings, seminars, training sessions and wine tasting courses. Taking advantage of its excellent facilities and professional expertise, Adega de Borba organises many different wine related activities year round including seminars on wine tasting and serving, wine conservation, food and wine, as well as any other topics sought out by customers and partners.
Monday to Saturday: 9.00 am – 7.00 pm
Tours, tastings and other visits should be booked in advance.
Click here to see all the visits and tasting's details.
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