QUINTA Do CANHOTO - ALBUFEIRA - Portuguese wines between tradition and innovation

October 2023… ALGARVE region, south coast of Portugal.

In a unique location, between the countryside and the sea, the Quinta do Canhoto farm-wine cellar is located in the heart of the Algarve wine region. A short distance from the city of Albufeira - 2.5 kilometers from the sea (which is visible from the farm), but far from the hustle and bustle, the farm presents itself as a space of tranquility, biodiversity, which surprises tourists with the quality of its wines, through its vineyards overlooking the sea.

On their 22 hectares of property in Albufeira, the Vilarinho family maintains a long tradition of growing carob and olive trees in the Algarve. Ten hectares are currently entirely dedicated to vineyards.

In fact, the history of the Quinta do Canhoto farm began in the 1950s, Joana Fernandes – one of the owners of the estate told us. Ever since the time of her great-great-grandfather, the family had several plots of land, “they made wine for friends in a small cellar”, then they started growing and selling grapes to Adega Cooperativa de Lagoa. The vineyard grew and so did the desire to develop the business.

But in the beginning there were olive trees and carob trees, but do you know what carob is?

The carob tree is a tree native to the Mediterranean basin.

The fruit of the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) is called "carob" and is used in the feed of domestic animals and to a lesser extent in the human diet, in the form of fresh or dried pods and flours used mainly for the production of sweets.

Currently, the production of carobs of the Quinta Do Canhoto farm (the largest producer in southern Portugal) is somewhere around several dozen tons/year, which brings an important income to the Vilarinho family.

Since 2009, the entire vineyard has been replanted and concentrated in a single farm to increase wine production and allow the adoption of new harvesting techniques, which began to be done with the help of vibrating machines. “It's very difficult to find people to work in the vineyard,"Edgar Vilarinho, a very voluble and well-informed character, told us, who introduced us to the vineyard and winery.

In 2012, Joana Fernandes, an architect by profession, began developing the project for the building that houses the Quinta do Canhoto winery. The project is the work of her, the 5th generation of the Vilarinho family who, together with her mother Josefina and her uncle Edgar, are at the forefront of the destiny of Quinta do Canhoto. The project received an Algarve Architecture Award in 2022 from the Order of Architects.

The family wanted to create a space with a bioclimatic architecture that "respects the nature more" with the lowest possible energy costs. On an aesthetic level, the concept was to combine modernity with the countryside, in a minimalist but also contemporary space.

Considering that the events wing can accommodate up to 150 people, Edgar says they have started hosting other types of events as well. The room with views of the countryside, houses and fish pond - which also serves as an additional water basin in dry summers - is the ideal place to discover Esquerdinos wines, but also to organize private parties.

In this idyllic landscape, where the vines grow perfectly, the winery owners transform their grapes into white and red wine called Esquerdino. The winery, which is the result of a design in perfect harmony with nature, stores around 70,000 liters of wine.

Before we get to the wine tasting, I have to tell you what Esquerdino means, the brand under which all Quinta do Canhoto wines are produced…well, in Portuguese Esquerdino means “left-handed”. If you look carefully at the wine labels, you will notice that on the bottom right edge of the labels there are 4 stylized fingerprints, and on the top left edge of the labels, there is a single fingerprint.

This suggests that the wine bottle should be held in the left hand!...hence the name Esquerdino meaning “left-handed”!

I don’t know whose idea it was, but the label looks very interesting. It seems that this is a tribute to the great-great-grandfather of the Vilarinho family, who was a very respected man in the community, a man of great feats and who literally used his left hand.

Under the aforementioned brand Esquerdino, the first wines from this family-owned company were launched in 2017, and they quickly managed to win several awards and mentions. The wines are produced from six different grape varieties: Antão Vaz and Arinto (white wines), Syrah, Alicante Bouschet, Cabernet Sauvignon and Touriga Nacional (red wines).

The entire experience of visiting Quinta do Canhoto with an English-language presentation cost €25 per person and lasted about two and a half hours, including visiting the farm, the cellar and tasting the wines with the corresponding plates.

After so many interesting and captivating stories, we arrived at the tasting room. We were a group of about 20 people from a wide variety of countries: England, Sweden, Holland, Spain, clear proof that Quinta do Canhoto is a favorite destination on the wine-wine tourism map of Portugal.

Edgar Vilarinho was the one who introduced us to the 4 wines that were part of the tasting program: Esquerdino-brut sparkling wine, Esquerdino Branco (white blend of Antão Vaz and Arinto), Esquerdino Tinto (red blend of Touriga Nacional, Syrah, Alicante Bouchet, Cabernet Sauvignon) and Esquerdino Tinto Reserva (Syrah).

From my point of view, all the wines tasted deserve the maximum rating, but if I had to choose one of them, then Esquerdino Tinto (red blend of Touriga Nacional, Syrah, Alicante Bouchet, Cabernet Sauvignon) would be the one chosen. It is also a wine awarded the gold medal at the 2023 National Wine Competition.

A wine with an intense aroma of ripe autumn fruits with a persistent aftertaste, with a Mediterranean maritime influence so characteristic of the Algarve region. A gastronomic wine that goes very well with game dishes, mature cheeses.This concludes the interesting and instructive wine-growing experience that was called Quinta do Canhoto.

The harmony between the Portuguese wine tradition and the city of Albufeira, brought this family a new vision for a business that had already begun so many decades ago.

Open all year round, Quinta do Canhoto is one of the options not to be missed for tourists visiting the wonderful Algarve area located on the southern coast of Portugal.