The winery "Sociedade Agrícola Casa de Vilacetinho" is located in the municipality of Alpendurada in the Vinho Verde area in
Portugal. The origin goes back to a
Benedictine monastery founded in the 11th century. The traditional business was founded in 1790 and is now owned by the Girão Maia family. The winemaker in charge is José Manuel Antunes. A wine from the house was served at a banquet on the occasion of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II of England in 1957. The wines used to be available on board the Portuguese airline TAP (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses).
The vineyards cover 30 hectares. They are planted with the white varieties
Arinto,
Avesso, Azal
(Alvarinho) and
Loureiro, and the red varieties
Touriga Nacional and
Vinhão. Grapes are also purchased for the simpler wines. The vineyard is cultivated according to the guidelines of
organic viticulture. After manual harvesting, the grapes are transported to the winery in 15-kg boxes and selected before processing. After pneumatic
pressing,
fermentation and ageing take place in stainless steel. Among the premium wines are the two
Vinho Verde Grande Escolha (cuvée from Arinto, Avesso, Azal, Loureiro) and Colheita Seleccionada Arinto. Around 900,000 bottles of wine are produced annually. Some of these are exported to some European countries, Canada, USA, China, Japan, Australia and Brazil.
