Filipe Palhoça is a family-owned and operated winery which is located in the Península de Setúbal immediately south of Lisbon across the Tejo river. The winery was formally founded as a business in 1950 when Filipe Jorge Palhoça decided to establish a commercial winery based around the small family cellar and vineyard belonging to his father, João Loureiro Palhoça. From these small beginnings, the family has grown their company to now encompass over 112 hectares (277 acres) of vineyards and a substantial modern winemaking facility located in the historic Quinta da Invejosa estate within the heart of the Península de Setúbal winemaking region. This winery which, in spite of the its fairly large production capacity, utilizes 100% estate-grown grapes for the production of its wines, relies on low-intervention practices both in the vineyards and the cellar to create wines that are dynamic, complex, and approachable to the modern consumer.
While a significant focus of the winery is placed on the cultivation of indigenous regional Portuguese grape varietals, such as Arinto, Castelão, Fernão Pires, Moscatel Graúdo, and Moscatel Roxo, the family has also gradually incorporated carefully-selected international varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, in order to showcase the vast potential of these varietals in the verdant terroir and Mediterranean climate of the Setúbal Peninsula. The flat sandy soils of the Peninsula have long contributed to the region’s rich agricultural production, encouraging the planting of vast swaths of holm oak and cork oak groves that mark the landscape, but also contributing to the production of well-established and productive vineyards that are uniquely resistant to disease and pests like phylloxera. This holds true for the vineyards of Filipe Palhoça, allowing old vines to establish themselves without the need for intervention on the part of the viticulturalists and ultimately contributing to wines of complexity and balance.
Filipe Palhoça is a winery that truly captures the character of wines from the Península de Setúbal, offering expressions that are both fresh and accessible but also nuanced in their characteristics. The winery is a model for a small family vineyard that has, through the work of the family, grown to become substantial in its size and production while still maintaining the traditions and methods of its region.
