At a time of life when you might start thinking about what you want to do when you retire, we came to Portugal to explore the options for a holiday place in the sun.
We had no clear idea about where to look or what to look for. During those ten days, however, we fell in love with the country and with a plot of land in the Algarve of a size and nature that made us stop and wonder how it might change the course of our lives.
“It became a place of inspiration, one that filled us with a sense of wonder and possibility.”
When we first found it, back in 2005, it was abandoned and unkempt – nine hectares of uninhabited land, with neither water nor electricity, in a country where we neither knew anyone nor spoke the language. Not everyone’s idea of paradise.
And yet, within days of first discovering it, an idea was born.
We named it Quinta dos Sentidos.
It took several years for that idea to materialize. Years of planning, shaping, building and not least overcoming bureaucratic obstacles.
Years of transforming the estate’s landscape into what would one day become Quinta dos Sentidos.
Finally, it was time to establish the vineyards. First, we had the land cleared and the old olive trees carefully moved and replanted, olive trees which, to this day, contribute to the flavourful olive oils of Quinta dos Sentidos.
Then we painstakingly had 14,000 young vines planted in our rocky ground – each and every one of them by hand.
Four years of tending the vines from planting to the first harvest. Our patience, however, paid off when we could finally enjoy the first sip of Quinta dos Sentidos wine.
Our own wine. That was the moment we knew it had been worth all the effort. Passion and careful attention to detail rewarded us with a wine that was not only delicious but spoke volumes about its place of origin.
And beyond…
Since 2013 Quinta dos Sentidos is where we live and feel at home.
Home where we make our wines, olive oils, verjus and honey. And we are proud of every batch and vintage. To us, they are proof that if you allow yourself to follow your dreams, amazing things can happen.
vinum atque oleum olivarum”
– The necessary ingredients of civilization are wine and olive oil.