Urban Winery in the heart of Lisbon

Love

We founded Adega Belém to be able to make wines beyond industry-driven conceptions and fashions, relying both on sophisticated craftsmanship and a deeply urban production approach. “Made with love…”  – that’s not just buzz words, but the epitome of our dedication and passion for every detail of the process, from our involvement with vineyards and vintners, to the work in the cellar, the packaging and environmental design, and our relation to our clients at the cellar door.

Craftsmanship

We handcraft our wines combining sophisticated oenological knowledge with a minimal intervention approach brought about by the natural wine movement in France 30 years ago. All wines are spontaneously fermented with carefully applied temperature control. Some of the wines further ripen in clay amphorae or French oak barrels, for periods ranging from 4 to 24 months. The result are top premium wines that are organically balanced, vibrant and tantalizing.

Urban

Bringing the winery inside the city also allows us to invent a whole new way of mediating and distributing our wines directly to our customers. The doors of the winery are usually wide open and you can come and observe every step of the process. You will have the chance to talk to us winemakers directly about the wines that you taste. And tell us about the journey on which they take you. You are part of our terroir as much as are our vintners, the weather and the soil. Some of our batches are exclusively sold at the cellar door.

Fruit

Our white grapes grow in the foothills of Lisbon’s Monsanto, while the reds thrive in Estoril’s Caparide Valley and on the eroded calcareous plateaus of the right bank of the Tejo river, a few kilometers upstream from the Bay of Lisbon. Integrated vineyard management creates an ecologically sustainable environment keeping both grapes and soil in great shape, for generations to come. The grapes are hand harvested when we feel that they are ready. Read more

Responsible

While the health of our grapes and vineyards are a 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.

Family

Adega Belém is a family venture and everyone, young and old, gets involved. While David and Catarina are professional winemakers, 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.

Arinto 2021

A bright white wine made in the image of Lisbon, evoking an afternoon spent in the shade of a tree overlooking the roofs of the city and the river, watching the ships pass by under a blue sky, the muffled noise of kids playing in the street and the distanced squeaking of the tram making its way through the city’s windy streets. Fine acidity paired to lemon, peach and woodruff aromas make this wine the perfect companion of light salads, white meat and fish and umami dishes.

Rabo da Rainha 2020

A 2020 Grande Reserva, the highest quality certification attributed by wine commissions in Portugal, made of a balanced blend of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional grapes grown on the calcareous river banks of the Tejo river, a few kilometers upstream from the bay of Lisbon. Intensively concentrated, but fresh aromas of wild blueberry and plum married to elegant spices and a hint of French oak.

Maceração diabólica 2020

Based on a batch of 2020 fungi-infected Arinto grapes from within the Alenquer wine region located on the right bank of the Tejo river, we have treated this wine like a noble rot. Hand harvested, cold macerated and slowly pressed. The wine clarified during fermentation and evolved a complex fruit and spice aroma profile typical for noble rot wines. After another 18 months in French oak, like the ugly duckling in Hans-Christian Anderson’s 1843 fairy tale, it turned into an outstandingly complex amber colored white wine. It’s the fruit of taking risks and having faith in the transformative power of the fermentation process.

Pétillant Naturel 2022

Along with classical winemaking methods, we love to experiment with techniques from other times and places. It’s the second time that we make an ancestral-method on-skin fermented Pétillant Naturel, a method first used in the mid 16th century by monks of the St-Hilaire monastery in the foothills of the Pyrenees in the South West of France. Made of Viosinho grapes grown at the vineyards of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia in Lisbon’s Ajuda neighborhood, the wine finished its fermentation in the bottle. It is unfiltered, with no additives, an extreme wine, cloudy, fine perlage, deeply fruit driven; a delicious cold companion for hot summer days. But careful: this is no usual spritzer, it may convert you to natural wine.

Brut Nature Sparkling

Handmade Brut Nature sparkling wine from Viosinho grapes grown in the foothills of the Monsanto mountains in Lisbon. Disgorgement à la volé, hand corked and labeled in our cellar in Belém. Fine nose, delicious citric aroma, fine perlage and the best blob of the year made in the town of Lisbon.

The Cellar Dog Selection

The cellar dog selection are beautifully fruit-driven, unpretentious red and white wines that accompany your daily meals, aperitifs and party events. These wines are made without oak contact, thus emphasizing their pure fruit character. Both are named after the winery’s pets, Lili the cellar dog, and Cookie the cellar rabbit, who are extended members  of the team.

Tours & Wine Tastings

If you love wine and always wanted to know more about how it is actually made, what choices a winemaker has, and what makes the big difference between a EUR 3,40 wine and a EUR 32,50 wine, we recommend our winemaker led cellar tour, with tasting and light lunch, every Friday and Saturday, 11h-13h. Please inquire about availability, and then book online. You can enjoy tasting flights at the cellar door during normal opening times and without prior booking. Tours in English Fri & Sat, 11am-1pm. Option for private tours in other languages and at other times. Read more.

Pairings and delicious light lunch

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.

Our Events, Your Events

Organize your events, birthday parties, business meetings, receptions, Christmas dinners, warm and cold finger-food buffets at the winery, or join one of our Wine Poetry nights, Saturday morning brunches or Friday Night Wine Quizzes. Read more.