Encosta da Capela is a wine designation in the territory of Monção and Melgaço, in the Vinhos Verdes sub-region. It’s the product of a decades-long family history that consisted of the progressive conversion of land dedicated to growing corn and vines, an old local feature, into a wine-growing landscape. A landscape in which the Alvarinho grape variety has played a major role from an early stage.

Over time, the small terraced vineyard plots were added to one another until they totalled around thirty  today, 5 hectares. But it was in 2015 that José Manuel Fernandes, the eldest son of the family, took a step forward and started winemaking on premises  with the Encosta da Capela brand. Encosta due to the characteristics of the terrain and Capela in honour of the small temple adjacent to the winery that had served as a place of worship for generation after generation.

It’s in this exceptional terroir, enveloped in the almost mystical aura emanating from the River Minho, that they produce their wines, from old vines facing west, at an altitude of between 100 and 400 metres.
An enchanting place that deserves to be discovered.