We are Catarina and David, winemakers and owners of Adega Belém Urban Winery. We love wine and we love Lisbon. That’s why we have built our winery in a former car repair shop in the heart of Lisbon’s urban neighborhood of Belém. The grapes come from small vineyards nearby.
Our aim is to make the most delicious wine possible out of each batch of grapes. To achieve this, we work collaboratively with vine growers, wine academics, wine lovers and wine distributors who share our passion for complex, soulful wines.
Drop by and sample a selection of our reds, whites, rosés and bubblies, all made from Portuguese varietals. Or learn more about wine making by taking part in a tour through our winemaking cellars or by booking a wine tasting class. We also ship our wines within the European Union – check out the online shop.
See you soon, abraços, beijinhos, à bientôt und bis bald!
Catarina & David, family, dog and rabbit
News & Updates
Cellar tours daily 11h30-13h00 (please drop us an email to book)
Tastings and light tapas food during normal cellar door hours
25-26 June 2022 – Adega Belém at Vinhos a Descobrir, CCB, Belém, Lisboa
Made with love, and grapes as well
Our white grapes are grown in the foothills of Lisbon’s Monsanto. The reds come from Estoril’s Caparide Valley and the Alenquer region a few kilometers upstream from the Bay of Lisbon. Integrated vineyard management creates an ecologically sustainable environment while keeping our grapes in great shape. The grapes are hand harvested when at optimal phenolic ripeness. Read more
Art, Ingenuity, Adventure
Handcrafted wines using state-of-the-art cellar technology and a minimal intervention approach to make the most delicious wines possible from each grape variety. All wines are spontaneously fermented, with carefully applied temperature control. They are nurtured so as to develop strong and complex personalities expressing the specificity of each grape variety and the particular climates of our vineyards. Ultimately, we want our wines to embody the typicality of the terroir of our cellar located within the Belém neighborhood.
Deliciousness is our dogma
We entered the field of winemaking at a later stage in our lives, after research careers in different universities. This may be why we like the idea to do our work without being overly ideological and instead experiment with technologies and conventions. We adore to embrace new and also very old knowledge to bring our wines to new heights, and thus to contribute to the creative effervescence of urban winemaking around the world.
Sustainable Winemaking
While the health of our grapes and vineyards are our top priority, we also implement a strict sustainable winery procedures policy, e.g. by using lightweight bottles, chemical-agent-free cleaning, energy saving inverter technology, recycled cardboard packaging, and in-house waste water treatment. Read more.
In the Heart of Lisbon
Bringing the winery inside the city means bringing the mystery of fermentation right to the doorstep of our clients. Our gates are usually wide open so that you can observe every step of transforming grapes into beautiful wines.
A Family Matter
Adega Belém is a family venture and everyone, young and old, gets involved. All label designs are based on drawings by Ana Lula and Sofia, the two junior winemakers whose work so well reflects the crazy and chaotic harmony of our lives – and wines.
Cellar Dog Selection
Uncomplicated red and white wines that accompany your daily meals, aperitifs and party events. Both are named after the winery’s pets, Lili the cellar dog and Cookie the cellar rabbit.
Single Variety Whites
Three single variety white wines made from grapes from the north of Portugal: Encruzadao, Moscatel Galego and Alvarinho, yet grown in the vineyards next to Lisbon’s famous red bridge (“25 de abril”). Like three sisters, each develops an own personality while maintaining a common sensorial parenthood.
Outstanding Reds
Two outstanding red wines we are really proud of: Senhor Rita, a 2020 Reserva made of Castelão, and Rabo da Rainha, a 2020 Grande Reserva made of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional.
Encruzado Brut Nature
Handmade sparkling wine from Encruzado grapes grown in the foothills of the Monsanto mountains in Lisbon. Disgorgement à la volé, hand corked and labeled in our cellar in Belém. Delicious citric aroma, fine perlage and the best blob of the year made in the town of Lisbon.
Pet Nat 2021
Ancestral-method and on-skin fermented Moscatel Galego, unfiltered, no additives, an extreme wine, cloudy, strong perlage, difficult to open without making a mess, deeply fruit driven, delicious cold companion of hot summer days, but careful: this is no usual spritzer, it may convert you to natural wine.
Unicorn Magic
Capricious, wild, untamed. Fetish animal of the 2015 generation. Name of our 2020 late harvest Moscatel Graúdo from the Arrabida Hills. Whole-berry fermented. Spontaneous fermentation. 90 day maceration.
Tours & wine tastings
Join our daily cellar tour to learn all about winemaking and taste wines at intermediate stages. Or sit down in our cellar door and explore the varietal characters of different grapes grown in the Lisbon area. Tours at EUR 21/person. Tasting flights from EUR 10,-. Book here.
Light lunch options
Enjoy handcrafted goat, sheep and cow-milk cheeses, selected cured meats, Iberian pork sausages, olives and fresh bread. Or customize your hot and cold finger-food menu via our caterer. Prices range from EUR 10,- per person to somewhere close to the infinitude of the outer galaxy.
Magical memories
Organize your events, birthday parties, business meetings, receptions, finger-food buffets at the winery, or join one of our Wine Poetry nights, Saturday morning brunches or Friday Night Wine Quizzes.
Wine is fun
We think that wine is above all about having fun and definitely far less serious than so many of our contemporaries seem to pretend. Let’s taste and talk about what really matters, how we drink what we drink and what we like to drink, and let other people do the bullshitting.
Lazy Saturday mornings
We like our lazy Saturday mornings and invite you to hang out at the winery and cellar door, enjoy a glass of sparkling wine together with light tapas made from local produce including artisan cheese and Iberian chouriço Kids are welcome. Drop by, or book in advance.
Frogs + ♥ = wine
Before becoming winemakers, Catarina was a biologist studying the mating calls of the Iberian tree frog. She found that female frogs generally respond to males who call in the local frog-dialect. In rare cases, females fall for the unique spell of a peculiar foreign male passing by their pond, and love happens. That’s kind of our story. And that’s why the Iberian tree frog is our logo. ♥
Cellar door menu & wine list
Writing about Adega Belém
Julia Harding MW, Tasting Notes
Dry on the palate with grape and oranges flavours. Light tannins and very good acidity. A very interesting wine – sweet flavours in a dry wine.
Sarah Ahmed, The Wine Detective
These honest, fun wines showcase the varieties well and the charming urbanistas’ passion project has a thriving cellar door, offering tastings, winery tours and cold platters.
João Pereira Santos, Revista Peixão pelo Vinho
Catarina Moreira e David Picard são os felizes proprietários da Adega Belém, a primeira adega urbana do país. Um projeto familiar, que é também a concretização de um sonho, onde se faz, bebe e
Carol A. Wilcox, Our Portugal Journey
What happens when a professor of anthropology and a biologist meet and fall in love? They start an urban winery in Portugal, of course!
How to find us
