Welcome to the online home of our family estate Quinta da Bordaleira. Our history begins two generations ago, when our grandparents established a deep-rooted connection to the viticulture and a passion for winemaking. Today, we continue their legacy, developing a sustainable viticulture and crafting exceptional wines in the foothills of the Serra da Estrela mountain range in the wine region Dão in Portugal, unique for its beauty and heritage.
Allow us to take you on a journey through our vineyard and its exquisite grape varieties. Come with us to explore our wines and the heartwarming traditions of Serra da Estrela, such as sheep herding and wool crafting, and to know our regional symbols like the shepherd dog "Serra da Estrela" named after our mountain range.
You might be curious about the name “Bordaleira”… Our estate (“Quinta”) is named after the sheep Bordaleira, which is integrated in our viticulture and is one of the main symbols of Serra da Estrela. The Bordaleira has contributed to the human settlement in our region since the Neolithic period by providing wool and milk and ha an important role in the local economy until today. The wool and the milk are the local raw material for the burel fabric and the cheese Serra da Estrela, flagships of their kind in the Portuguese textile manufacture and gastronomy.
In Quinta da Bordaleira we are proud of our region’s heritage and the immemorial winemaking tradition of Dão. Join us in this experience: taste and share our wine with family and friends and, whenever you have the chance, come visit Serra da Estrela!
Carefully planted east-west for best sun exposure, which ensures perfect grape ripeness, and shielded by the Serra da Estrela and Caramulo mountain ranges our vineyard has exclusively the traditional grape varieties of Dão, being those authorized in the production of Dão D.O.C. wines. Our grape varieties are Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, Encruzado, Malvasia Fina, and Gouveio - each of them brings its own personality and contributes its nuances of flavors and aromas to our wines.
FIND OUT MORE about the grape varieties that grow in our 4-hectare vineyard HERE.
Our vineyard is located at an altitude of approximately 600 meters, what contributes to significant diurnal temperature variation: warm during the day and cool during the night. This variation allows the grapes to ripen slowly, resulting in balanced acidity and high sugar content in the fruit, and thus in wines with great structure and elegance.
FIND OUT MORE about the climate and soil in our region HERE.
The harvest is handmade and the grapes are also hand selected at the entrance of the wine cellar to ensure that only high quality grapes are brought to the winemaking process. Our winemaker carefully monitors the wine production and the wine throughout its ageing period both in stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels. Every bottle of wine from Quinta da Bordaleira is a true testimony of our dedication and care!
We are truly committed to sustainable viticulture practices and the respect to our environment. We employ methods of low chemical intervention in the vineyard and we do not use any kind of herbicide. The sheep Bordaleira helps us in this task! From October to March a herd of approximately 100 sheep regularly visits our vineyard, where they find the grass to feed themselves and leave there the manure to fertilize our soil. We preserve the biodiversity of our ecosystem, ensuring a harmonious environment in which its microbiome can act in the different stages of the vine's vegetative cycle, contributing to Quinta da Bordaleira wines being the pure expression of our terroir.
As a family business, we are integrated in the local community. We actively participate in the daily life of our village, we engage local personnel for the work in the vineyard and in the cellar, and we buy products and services from local providers within a range of 10 kilometers from our estate. By means of the close relationship with our community, we support the local economy and preserve the environment, the viticulture, and the winemaking traditions in the Dão region by learning from the experience of our people, who have cultivated these vineyards for several generations.
Did you know that the Serra Estrela mountain range is home to the highest peak in mainland Portugal at 1993 meters above sea level? The wine Quinta da Bordaleira 1.993m is a tribute to the exuberant landscape of our Serra da Estrela.
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