We celebrated Soalheiro’s birthday on the 20th of March, the date inscribed on the label of the first bottle, signed in 1982 by João António Cerdeira and his family.
Curiously, we celebrated our 40th birthday on a Sunday, the day when families traditionally get together at lunchtime.
We gathered the whole team and “set” the tables next to the vineyard. Between toasts and the typical conversations of family lunches, the conviviality at the table continued, as usual, whenever we get together to celebrate, so it was a party afternoon.
It was “a journey through time”, according to Maria Palmira Cerdeira, co-founder of Soalheiro, who saw the “adventure” shared at the beginning with family and friends in the house’s garage now being shared with the new family, the Soalheiro team. She remembered the dirt floor of the family’s old garage, where it all started, and the red Ford Escort, which lost its place to make way for a small improvised cellar, with just five 2500 liter barrels, where the first experiments with wine were made, always in a party atmosphere, to the sound of guitars and concertinas, gathering family and friends.
For Maria João Cerdeira, the founders’ daughter and current manager, responsible for viticulture and herbal teas:
“Soalheiro started by the hands of the Cerdeira family, but today it is a family of many families and a wine produced by many hands. And that’s what we want to celebrate throughout this year. The territory, the unique culture of Monção and Melgaço, our team and the more than 150 winegrower families that are part of Soalheiro.”
Special editions that marked the beginning of our 40 years
By the hands of the family, the entire team received Soalheiro 40 years Special Edition and Herbal Tea from Our Vineyards, the two special editions we launched to mark the 40th anniversary of Soalheiro. – Read more about special editions in the latest Blog article!
The labels of the four special edition wines pay homage to the original bottle, in a recreation that bears the name of the co-founder, João António Cerdeira, in a tribute to the pioneer who founded, within his family, Melgaço’s first brand of Alvarinho. António Luís, son of the founders, manager and winemaker of Soalheiro, shared that:
“These bottles and the first ones (from 1982) are the only ones with his name on the label. As he worked in Finance, the name of my grandfather, António Esteves Ferreira, was placed on the label”.
The Herbal Tea from Our Vineyards is the first blend of The Pur Terroir Herbal Tea line, a limited edition of 1982 units, referring to the year of the first bottle, which carries the essence of the vineyards of our territory to the teacup, the result of a blend between natural elements from the vineyards.
This Sunday was just the beginning of a year of celebration during which we will certainly have a toast with everyone.
