Divai is a project developed in partnership with the owners of the SANA hotel group, who set out to create a winery that reflected the long tradition and quality of Alentejo wines while at the same employing modern winemaking technology and techniques to make wines of freshness, complexity and accessibility. The founders of the winery were clear from the outset that they wanted to set out to build a winery project that was creating elevated wines of the highest caliber that fully represented the traditions of winemaking in the Alentejo region. To this end they partnered with famed Portuguese winemaker Luís Duarte, who has acted as the consulting head winemaker of the project from the outset and has contributed his decades of experience and expertise the growing and production of exceptional Alentejo wines. Recognized as one of the best oenologists in the world at Prowein in 2010, and having three times been elected as winemaker of the year while working at some of Portugal’s most globally-recognized wineries, Duarte ensured from the outset that Divai would employ every possible practice to guarantee their production of the highest quality wines possible. The winery, now occupying a well-established quinta outside of the historic city of Estremoz, has transitioned to 100% estate wine production as the winery has taken over vineyard and production space from former producers in order to guarantee the consistency and quality representation of terroir reflected in Divai wines.
The winery includes a historic house from the early part of the 20th century which the company is in the process of renovating into a hotel for winery guests, and shares space with a working farm which produces a variety of local produce, livestock, poultry, and boasts a well established equestrian program housed under the centuries-old olive and cork groves. It has successfully grown since its establishment in 2014 from providing wines to the hotel group also owned by the founders of the vineyard to reaching broader commercial success both within Portugal and across a variety of global export markets.
Born out of the long-held vision of its founders and the profound creativity and experience of its much-lauded head winemaker, Divai has emerged as a winery that produces wines of elegance and profundity. Although a relatively new project in an ancient winegrowing region, Divai gracefully balances the traditions and heritage of the Alentejo with a profound understanding of the tastes and preferences of an ever-changing world of wine consumers. They are effective at balancing this respect for tradition and a broader global context to create wines that are truly unique and memorable creative expressions, speaking both to the beautiful land from which they come and the senses of the drinker to which they are connecting through the glass.
