• Campolargo

    COMPANY

    COMPANY
  • COMPANY The Winegrower
    Our grandfather Martinho, a farmer from Mogofores, produced red wine back in the early 1920's. He was amongst this rare group of growers who would separate white from black grapes, producing a beautiful and renowned white wine. Both wines were sold in bulk to local merchants who would then bottle the wine.
    Upon his decease in the late 1960's, our father Manuel took charge of the entire exploitation modernizing and expanding the vineyards abandoning, nonetheless, the wine market-oriented production.

    In mid 1990's we started testing the varieties planted in that meantime (many of which first time attempts in this region). Decision was taken to resume market-oriented wine production and to raise a new cellar.


    The first Campolargo wines resulted from 2000 crop, although the new cellar was only built in 2004.Nowadays, the business lies in the hands of the third generation with Jorge Campolargo responsible for the vineyards and Carlos Campolargo heading the cellar and sales. Joana Campolargo impersonates the collaboration of the fourth generation ensuring administrative support and external relations.

    Therefore, we wish to maintain our wine production an exclusively family-run business.

    • Texto 1
    Gallery
  • COMPANY The Vineyards
    • Texto 1
    Gallery
    Our vineyards are located in two proprieties: 110 hectares Quinta de S. Mateus in S. Lourenço do Bairro and 60 hectares, in Arcos, Quinta de Vale de Azar.
    In this last property, soils are mostly sandy-clay, with small calcareous areas.

    Sun exposure is mainly South and West. We have planted Baga, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Pinot Noir, Trincadeira da Bairrada (periquita) and Cabernet Sauvignon as red varieties. White varieties are Bical, Arinto, Cerceal and Verdelho.

    In the heart of this property, named after the missing village called Valle de Azar (see map), stands the ancient "lagar do senhor Gaudêncio", so referred by António Augusto de Aguiar in his 1867 work, "Memories of Winemaking Process".
    Here spring the grapes used in red wines such as Quinta de Vale de Azar and Valdazar and also Campolargo espumante based on Bical, Arinto and Cerceal varieties.

    Two km away you will find our cellar, located in Quinta de S. Mateus.
    Here the soil is more diverse, being frequent to find the typical chalky-clay soils alternating with different coloured clay soils mixed with sand, mainly in the highest parts, that are bursting with shingles. 

    "Sun exposure is mainly South and West. We have planted Baga, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Pinot Noir, Trincadeira da Bairrada (periquita) and Cabernet Sauvignon as red varieties. White varieties are Bical, Arinto, Cerceal and Verdelho"
    Texto 2 destaque
    Here all sun exposures are possible since the wine parcels occupy the south and north bank of one hill starting right after Mogofores, at east, upwards to Paredes do Bairro at west.
    The parcels were named after the traditional designation of their locations (sítios) and so were the resulting wines.Therefore, Touriga Nacional, Castelão Nacional and Souzão (the latest recently replaced Cabernet Sauvignon) are planted in Termeão. In Vinha da Costa we have Tinta Roriz, Syrah and Merlot wine stocks with which we produce Vinha da Costa and Os Corvos da Vinha da Costa.

    From Gaz and Espinheira fields we get Cabernet and Castelão for Campolargo CC and Contra a Corrente. White varieties dominate the so-called old part of S. Mateus: Verdelho, Sauvignon Blanc, Bical (from which we produce another Campolargo espumante), Pinot Blanc and Viognier.

    Pinot Noir, used in white and pink sparkling wine also shares this provenience.
    In this area, facing north and east, red varieties are Baga, Alfrocheiro and Tinto Cão, not forgetting a parcel of Alvarelhão, Tinta Francisca and Touriga that are planted together. Behind the pine forest we have aligned Touriga Francesa and Alicante Bouschet, nearly touching the cellar.

    The south line of the small wood is embroidered with Pinot Noir wine-stocks, cradle of red Campolargo.
    Arinto is planted in Vale do Olho and Chardonnay is to be found in Vinha da Costa, Vale do Covo and Espinheira or Vale do Gaio.

    Panasqueira parcel is Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon exclusively; these varieties are also present in Barrio and Cardal and are the only to grow with a certain physical separation from the Quinta.
    Between Termeão and Vinha da Costa, by the brook, we find at north, Trincadeira, Malbec and Petit Verdot. In the south bank, sequenced in a parcel called Juncal, we have Souzão, Bastardo, Tinta Pinheira, Alfrocheiro and Tinto Cão.

    • Texto 4
    Gallery
  • COMPANY The Cellar
    Belt between February and September 2004, following architect Carlos Ramos project, our cellar at Quinta de S. Mateus produces wine according to the most classical concept.
    The building fills an 18 meters high vertical cut in one of the vineyards hillsides facing south-west. The construction allows for the use of gravity in the entire winemaking process, from grape entrance to final pressing.

    No strange yeasts, enzymes or bacteria are added to winemaking.
    Hand picked grapes are disinfected, most of the times totally destemmed and treaded with the help of two robots. Pumps and crushers are therefore excluded from our oenologic concept.

    Red wines undergo natural malolatic fermentation in wood: in 300 litres casks or 4200 litres wooden vats, french or east-european oak. Follows a cellar rest for a more or less extended period.

    White wines, hardly ever desteemed, are decanted for an adequate period of time after pressing followed by stainless steel or barrel fermentation, the latest without climate control.
    Sparkling wine is produced by the classic method of second fermentation in bottle after specially prepared base wines obtained from grapes cropped with a likely adequate degree and acidity level.
    Pink wines, still or sparkling, are always obtained from pressing.

    Visitors can enjoy a circuit through the whole winemaking process described above and further on try our wines in the cellar gallery, at ground level by the vineyard, or 25 meters higher in the tasting room. From up there one can see an extraordinary panorama of soft hills covered by vineyards and, at far, the mountain range from Lousã to Caramulo up north (see enoturism).

    "The building fills an 18 meters high vertical cut in one of the vineyards hillsides facing south-west. The construction allows for the use of gravity in the entire winemaking process, from grape entrance to final pressing."
    Texto 2 destacado
Top ^