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Quinta da Lourosa

The projected roofs and the chapel now under restoration together with a sizeable project for Wine Tasting and Rural Tourism date from the 17th and 18th centuries. Quinta da Lourosa is nowadays a wine producing area comprising a series of vineyards persistently renovated and planted with varietal species throughout some twenty years and includes three distinct types of land – a flat vineyard, a vineyard in height (up to 25% inclination) and a sunny terraced mountain side land with red wine grape varieties (Vinhão, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Merlot and Syrah). With respect for tradition but incorporating new technological advances, Quinta da Lourosa has been the stage for innovative experiences in the fields of Growth, Selection and Adaptation of new varieties.

For three generations it produced wine for bulk sale but since 1995 it has been bottling its “Quinta da Lourosa”.

The vineyard, a stage of research of Professor Rogério de Castro, was structured in accordance with the “Lys” growth method, contrasting with the characteristic landscape of the region with the typical “branch cover”. Currently there are 10ha in production and a further 20ha under preparation.

Quinta da Lourosa has been a family property for several generations.

In 1997 Quinta da Lourosa became an agricultural company, starting production of bottled wines and commencing refurbishment work in the manor-house to exploit Rural Tourism.

In 2000, the daughter of the owner, Joana de Castro, after completing her course in Engineering of Agrarian Sciences, started an AGRO project as a young farmer, investing in the purchase of a further 10ha of land for planting new vines, in specific plant for the vineyards (which then becomes almost totally mechanized) and in the building of a simple cellar with modern plant to enhance the excellent grapes produced in the property. In order that the project became viable 10ha of vineyard in full production were leased, as well as 11ha of abandoned forest and agricultural land to plant new vines.

This is a pilot project with a strategy for producing and marketing wines from excellent quality regional grape varieties as well as universal varieties, as an alternative to the sole strategy of grape varieties that have been planted in the last few years in the Vinho Verde Region.

The great innovation of Joana de Castro’s project in Quinta da Lourosa is essentially in the technology of wine production. Thus the growth method is known as tri-dimensional LYS, which shows excellent results in the yield/quality ratio which is the most looked for in our line of production, that is, we require good quality but equally good output.

The technical results of this activity can be seen from the prizes already received: Red Regional Minho with Touriga Nacional and Merlot varieties (2002 Prize for Excellence), 2nd prize in the 2003 Competition for the Best Regional Vineyard, the 2004 Prize for Agriculture and Fisheries in the Environment Sector; the 2004 Best Regional Young Wine Grower, the 2005 Label Competition – prize awarded to Quinta da Lourosa Superior.

The number one objective in this Project is based upon the partnership between the producer Joana de Castro, the consultant Rogério de Castro, the company Quinta da Lourosa that purchases the grape production and one distributor for the home market and another for the export market (SAVEN).

From 2000 to 2001 sales increased slightly, from 2001 to 2002 there was an 8% decrease due to home market lower demand and negligible exports. This was the reason for the birth of the partnership with SAVEN, an export distributor. From 2002 to 2003 sales grew by 20% and from 2003 to 2004 growth was approximately 100%, due to increase in exports.

Environmental protection was a constant concern since the beginning of this project. Insecticides are rarely used ant there is a common concern for the protection of the vine and the soil, searching for a more effective control of strength, thus resulting in smaller sanitary problems and reducing the recourse to environmentally aggressive pesticides.

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