The name Monção e Melgaço solidifies the neighbourly relationship between these two municipalities in the far north-west of Portugal. E as we well knowThe municipality is much more than a simple administrative division, it is a powerful element of identity that both brings people together and drives them apart.

In this case, this symbiosis of territories with characteristics that are as similar as they are complementary, driven by the wine factor, is more than pertinent. This format makes it possible to highlight and strengthen the geographical, geological, climatic, cultural and historical specificities that characterise this part of the Minho river valley. The result is a unique terroir, to use the precise and all-encompassing French terminology that expresses what territory cannot achieve.

Here you can feel the weight of history at every turn. In the ruins of the Castro settlements, in the Roman and medieval remains, in the fortified walls of the villages, in the stately homes or in the buildings left over from the emigration of the last half of the 20th century, which are a document for the future, with many angles from which to analyse it.
For a long time, fishing in the ancestral fishing grounds, smuggling, border relations, emigration, agriculture and wine were the elements that defined the character of the inhabitants of this area.

Today is a different time and the vineyard reigns supreme. It's what gives this territory its existential meaning. There has always been wine here,  for their own consumption, as a business in itself or to complement other activities. But little by little, the white Alvarinho grape variety has gained in importance and economic muscle. And it has become an ingredient in the production of culture, a social centrepiece, a passion in its own right.

Vine growing is very much a family affair, visible in the myriad of small producers who supply grapes to the estates and appellations that sell them.
And if major players on the national wine scene are starting to emerge in the region, it doesn't seem to be to de-characterise these intricate links, but rather to strengthen them. Without them, Monção and Melgaço's Alvarinho would lose its soul, its distinct personality and the added value that can elevate it to the wine Olympus.