You might know that Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to circumvent the earth. We learn this in school… We might not learn that his real name was Fernão de Magalhães – and if you don’t study in Portugal, then you will have no idea where he was born… for he was born in the Douro Valley, in the small town of Sabrosa.
478 years after his birth a group of wine growers met in exactly that village of Sabrosa and discussed how they can improve their lives. They were all small- and medium-sized wine growers, most made their wines in the own properties and then tried to find buyers for their wine or for their grapes.
To increase their economic power they decided to establish a co-operative. The Adega Cooperativa de Sabrosa was founded in 1958.
Nowadays around 600 wine growers provide the winery with their grapes and approx. 3 million liters of wine are made per year. This is an amazing number and I am a little bit surprised that this co-operative isn’t better known outside of Portugal.
While the whole world discusses lately gender equality, it is nice to see that in this Adega women have really found their way to the top: Celeste Marques is part of the management, is the wine maker and in charge of production and distribution. Natércia Veiga is in charge of quality control.
The company reserved the trade mark “Fernão de Magalhães” and under that name you can find their wines at many places in Portugal.
They don’t produce flashy wines that will land them on the covers of wine magazines. They don’t do any vintage ports; they will not bring a 150 year old Tawny to the market. Their wine offering is very precise and clear:
The Adega produces four different Port Wines. A Ruby Port, a Tawny Port, a White Port and a 10 year old Tawny.
These are wines that can be easily enjoyed, no decanting necessary; they are wines for easy consumption. My favorite wine of these is of course the 10 year old Tawny – a well-made wine.
All these wines are reasonably priced.
From time to time the company launches special editions of their wines.
In 2019 a Special Reserve Port was launched with one of the most beautiful labels I have ever seen on a Port Wine bottle, to honor the 500th anniversary of the begin of Magalhães’ voyage around the planet. This is a very decent Port, coming in a beautiful package. 3000 bottles were produced.
The company is of course also producing DOC wines under the label Fernão de Magalhães – a white wine, a White Reserve (6 months in French Oak), a red wine and a red Reserve (9 months in French Oak) and also a rose wine.
If you are making wine in Sabrosa then it is more or less a given that you make also a Moscatel – and the Adega de Sabrosa makes even two different Moscatels, the “normal” one and the “Reserve Moscatel”. That is an amazing wine and I have on my to-do-list to buy a few more of those when I am the next time in Sabrosa.
Fernão de Magalhães wasn’t the only famous son of the Sabrosa district – also the writer Miguel Torga was born here (there is by the way a very interesting exhibition about him and his life in the village S. Martinho de Antas, right next to Sabrosa).
As a homage to this great writer special editions of the Reserve Red wine are made, beautiful wooden boxes with a book of Miguel Torga and then a special edition red reserve wine with a special label. Beautiful gifts for Portuguese speaking friends.
To complete their offering, they make a very decent sparkling wine under the Fernão de Magalhães label. This is a nice wine to drink in the summer before lunch or by the pool.
The Adega de Sabrosa produces a lot of wine… and then don’t have this famous name that would demand huge premiums from the buyers… and that’s why their pricing is so incredible attractive.
The very decent Red Reserve DOC wine costs EUR 6.00 in the summer of 2019… The Moscatel is EUR 5.00 (but I am happily paying the EUR 15.00 for the Reserve Moscatel).
I like very much that this company is focusing so much on the local “celebrities” and honors their legacy.
A story that I found fascinating and that really didn’t get much press coverage was the voyage of one of the 500 year-anniversary Port bottles earlier this year.
The cruise ship “Costa Luminosa” followed the route of Fernão de Magalhães and did a world cruise in 113 days… The Captain of the ship took with him a bottle of the 10 Year Fernão de Magalhães Port – the signed bottle is now to be seen in the little museum in the main building of the company.
The Adega is open for visits – please reach out to them via Facebook and arrange a meeting. It’s very interesting to see the joy and the pride that the employees have to make their wines, and there are quite a few interesting artifacts to see, most coming from the time of the foundation of the Cooperativa.
You can even see a photo of the pope with a bottle of their Port…
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Adega Cooperativa de Sabrosa
Rua das Flores, 27
5060-321 Sabrosa, Portugal
(00351) 259 939 177
adega.sabrosa@gmail.com
www.adegacooperativadesabrosa.pt