Philosophy

We feel there is something precious about handmade food and beverages using produce from nearby fields and gardens. Many of us remember the aroma and taste of the homey food cooked by our grandmothers using vegetables from their gardens. Or the  concentrated sweet aroma of a blueberry tart with fruit picked in a nearby forest when we were kids. Or the nowadays almost lost flavors of perfectly ripe melons, peaches, apricots, strawberries or tomatoes. We observe how the industrial up-scaling of the global food industries, including the wine industry seems to have brought about, at the same time, a down-scaling of varietal taste and aroma diversity. A lot of fruit, vegetable, meat and also wine we buy at the supermarket smell and taste interchangeably. Many of us, including ourselves, have gotten used to consume such insipid foodstuff which has defined its own norm. We both have traveled and seen and tasted a lot, and believe life is too precious not to be enjoyed fully. The philosophy driving our project at Adega Belém is to create beautifully crafted, genuine products made of top quality locally grown ingredients.

Grapes that express the character of the land in which they grow

To create great wines, one needs great grapes. Historically, empirically and since recently scientifically, we know that grapes are at their best when grown in places with cool nights and long and warm sunny days. In the global winemaking world, this is achieved through plantations on steep slopes in moderate climates, in proximity to oceans and rivers, or at relatively high altitude (or latitude). The grapes we process are grown in vineyards in and around Lisbon, where the vines thrive in the ecologically rich mixed landscapes and climates of the Atlantic coast. The berries fully ripen over an extensive period, cooled down during the night and enjoying long sunshine hours during the day. Our approach is collaborative, and we have close-to-family-like relations with vintners who share our low intervention approach.

Wines that express the character of the winemakers in charge

To state the obvious: Grapes are grown in the vineyard, but the wine is actually made in the winery. During each phase of wine elaboration and aging, winemakers can choose from a wide array of cellar techniques to craft specific wine profiles, e.g. lighter, heavier, extractive, cloudy or clear, oxidative, aromatic, acidic, velvety, crisp or fresh. This applies for large-scale industrial winemaking as a much as for the currently en-vogue natural winemaking. Our approach is to ferment all wines spontaneously without sulfites, mostly as whole berries to maintain yeast diversity and allow a slow progressive release of the sugars. We let the wines grow at their own rhythm, with carefully applied temperature control, stringent hygiene and close “parental” supervision, to allow them to develop into strong and vibrant personalities.

Bringing the world together, at the cellar door…

The cellar door is where we spend most of the day. So we want this to be a place that we enjoy ourselves, where people with an open spirit from anywhere in the world can visit, halt for a moment, meet and discuss ideas, drink wine, share food and be themselves without much pretension or snobbishness. If there were one cult we’d actually support, it would be the Dionysian ritual of breaking down social boundaries, creating fusion, laughter, dance and chaos – obviously with the help of wine! So drop by to visit us, have a laugh, try some great wines. Or to have a chat about organizing your next family or company event here at the winery.