A story in every bottle.
A Douro Valley pioneer and leader, Casa Ferreirinha has carried the torch for creative, quality winemaking in the Douro, becoming the region’s most historic and iconic house. Casa Ferreirinha wines range from easy-drinking Esteva and Planalto to the richer Papa Figos and Vinha Grande to the exceptional Quinta da Leda, Reserva Especial, and Barca Velha which remains one of Portugal’s most famous, long-lived, elegant and complex wines.
The story of Casa Ferreirinha is inextricably associated with one extraordinary woman: Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira who was born in 1811 in the country town of Régua, the gateway to the wines of the Douro Valley. Though small in stature and reserved by nature, Dona Antónia was a charismatic visionary with entrepreneurial drive. In 1845 at age 33, she took over her family’s business, Ferreira Port, the first Portuguese family owned Port House in the Douro. During her tenure at Ferreira Port, Dona Antónia expanded her estates, created new expanses of terraced vineyards and improved the hard lives of the local farming families.
She was affectionally called ‘Ferreirinha’ – ‘the little Ferreira’. Dona Antónia’s legacy and quest for excellence continues to be a fundamental pillar of Casa Ferreirinha.
In the 1950’s, Ferreira’s technical director, Fernando Nicolau de Almeida, set out to make the highest quality unfortified wines in the Douro. His aim was to produce elegant, top-quality wines with the aging potential of Vintage Port. In 1952, Barca Velha was born, an iconic wine made only in exceptional vintages that combines the best grapes from the Douro Superior with grapes sourced at high altitudes.
Luís Sottomayor
When joining the wine-making team in 1989, Luís Sottomayor knew he joined the right company to make the finest wines of the Douro. Today, with his skills recognized and the quality of his work proven, he heads the Oenology team for all Sogrape Port Wine brands, a responsibility he assumed in January 2003.
Although Luís’s career trajectory has afforded him enriching experiences in several national and international wine-growing regions, his commitment to Douro and Port Wines earned him the 2010 Winemaker of the Year Award in the Fortified Wines category by Revista de Vinhos, one of the nation’s most prestigious wine publications. In 2012 he was nominated for the Winemaker of the Year accolade at the International Wine Challenge and was named Winemaker of the Year by Revista de Vinhos in 2012 and 2017.
Arguing that the secret of great wines rests on the passion of those who write their history in the vineyards and cellars, Luís likes to emphasize the effort made at Sogrape Vinhos to preserve and enhance their legacy by combining the values of tradition with emerging desires and trends for the future. An avowed soccer supporter, Luís Sottomayor devotes some of his leisure time to rugby, horse-riding and hunting.
