2015 harvest release / 13th October 2017 / Cais Novo, Porto / photos: Maria Sottomayor

Construction of the Cais Novo building began in 1750 as a house for José Pinto da Cunha Pimentel, a wealthy man from Provesende, a former concelho and now a freguesia of Sabrosa, Vila Real.

In 1798, the descendants of José Pimentel finished the construction of the large warehouses they would name Cais Novo (as they are still known), and that is where their boats would moor to unload the barrels. Later, an order from Real Companhia Velha demanded that within 48 hours a part of the warehouses should also serve the Companhia. The family had to submit, or they would lose the warehouses. In 1822, the warehouses became the main customs depot for the goods from the colonies and Brazil. The old Porto custom-house (now Casa do Infante) no longer had enough capacity. It became known as the Alfândega de Massarelos (Massarelos Custom-House).

The city began thinking of a New Custom-House. It was gradually built and in 1872, after its opening, the Armazéns da Companhia, do Cais Novo, or do Saavedra – a name by which they were also know on account of the first owner’s marriage to a Galician noblewoman, Dona Clara Saavedra – were returned to the family.

There couldn’t be a more suitable place for us to release the Quinta do Monte Xisto 2015, with the taste of Dona Amelinha’s – a northern woman– cooking!

2013 harvest release / 21st October 2015 / 100 Maneiras, Lisboa / photos: Ricardo Bernardo and Ricardo Veiga

In 2015, we went to the capital to release our new harvest in a more formal manner. Along with the wine, we also released a brochure made with Maria Sottomayor, thus finding a more personal, private form of communicating. And since there are 100 ways to communicate, 100 ways to be, and 100 ways to taste, it was at Ljubomir Stanisic’s 100 Maneiras (100 Ways) that we found the perfect place to launch our wine, in a relaxed atmosphere, with a cuisine which mingled happily with our Quinta do Monte Xisto 2013.

2012 harvest release / 18th September 2014 / São Bento Station, Porto / photos: Maria Sottomayor

It had to be the São Bento Station. The great gateway to the Douro, a remarkable building in the city of Porto, needs no introduction. But where would we hold the tasting of the new harvest? We looked around, and on the top floor of the station we found a series of amazing rooms. These rooms were a little abandoned at the time, but now they fortunately seem to have a purpose. So we tasted the wine in a room with a view over the centre of Porto, and from there we walked to Rui Paula’s DOP, a symbol of the culinary innovation of Northern Portugal.

2011 harvest release / 4th July 2013 / Livraria Lello, Porto

This was the release of our first harvest, Quinta do Monte Xisto 2011. We had decided we would try to release our wines in formats that suited our way of being. We started at the Livaria Lello, an iconic place in the city of Porto. In 1894, José Lello bought the Livraria Chardron along with its famous collection of remarkable books and authors, such as Eça de Queirós, our direct ancestor. We felt at home there!