The First Brand of Alvarinho
in Melgaço

It all started in 1974, when João António Cerdeira planted a small parcel of Alvarinho grapes. This parcel was called ’Soalheiro’, meaning ‘sunny’, referring to its location, exposed to sun all day long. Soon after, in 1982, João António turned his passion into a small independent family production. He took the red Ford Escort out of his garage, replacing it with the tools he needed to turn grape must into wine. With this, he officially started the operation that would become the Soalheiro we know today: the first brand of Alvarinho in Melgaço. It was from our first Alvarinho plot that “Primeiras Vinhas” was born, a wine that carries the passion we have for our first vines and the commitment to the preservation of old vines:

One of the turning points in our history came in 2005 when we completely changed the look of our wines. It was not an easy task, but our packaging needed to be updated to match our spirit of innovation. The old green bottle was replaced with a dark brown one to protect the wine from light, and our label was replaced with a more straightforward one. In respect for tradition, our lettering stayed the same and remains one of the defining parts of our image.

Alvarinho, and its many dimensions, will always be our main focus. In 2006, we released Primeiras Vinhas (sourced from our first vines) and Reserva (a barrel fermented Alvarinho), highlighting the diversity of expressions possible with this varietal. In 2007, we began blending Alvarinho with different grape varieties. ALLO was the first of these blends. The name may sound like a greeting, but it is actually a merge of the initials of Alvarinho and Loureiro, the two noble grape varieties of Minho region that make up this wine. Oppaco is another wine with a very special place in our hearts. It is our one and only red wine, a blend of Alvarinho, Vinhão, and Pinot Noir that brings a new dimension to the red wines in our region.

Our mindset of bringing prosperity to the region’s agriculture and economy turned Soalheiro into a family of families. Today we are a team of more than 30 people, and we created a club with more than 150 families of grape growers. Most of the members of our Club of Producers have another professional occupation and work their small parcels at the end of the day and on weekends. They treat the vineyards as their personal gardens and provide us with top-quality grapes. This ensures that they maintain a strong connection with their own lands. They all work their own vines, with our guidance, practising the sustainable viticulture necessary to meet our quality requirements. In addition to the Club of Producers, our project of Infusions contributes to the local socio-economic, environmental, and cultural sustainability by bringing new opportunities to the region and revitalising the local herbal tea culture. Finally, Project Germinar embraces the importance of social projects. From the work in the vineyard to the design of the label, it reflects a global social integration project for young people and adults with intellectual and developmental difficulties. For us, it is more than a wine- it is an awakening of awareness of equal opportunities.

Thinking about environmental efficiency has caused us to rethink many of our operations, focusing on ways we can be more sustainable from day to day. In 2020 we created an eco-efficient bottle that enabled a 19% reduction in CO₂ emissions in its manufacturing. By producing the bottle locally in Portugal it resulted in 8.5 times less CO₂ emissions in its transportation. In addition to this, our new boxes consume 39% less cardboard, sourced from Sustainable Forests (FSC certified). In April 2020, following our partnership with Porto Protocol, we built a green roof for our modernised winery. In addition to integrating the winery into the surrounding landscape, this will also bring an estimated energy saving of 26% per year.

Every birth has a story and we don’t know when Soalheiro’s started. It was once the name of an agricultural plot, due to the generous sun exposure, where in 1974 was planted the first continuous Alvarinho vineyard in Melgaço. 40 years ago, more precisely on 20-3-82, the first Alvarinho brand in Melgaço was born, Soalheiro. The date written on the first label, the signatures of the whole family, a birth that could have happened earlier: the tap in the barrel was not well closed during the night and the wine was gone. The following year, a new attempt and it was bottled. Since 1982, family members, neighbours and over 150 families of grape growers have joined together, the family is now a team and the will repeated every single year. May there be many more to come. To mark the ephemeris, we launched two commemorative editions: an exclusive edition of four wines, the Soalheiro 40 Years Special Edition, and our first blend, the Herbal Tea from Our Vineyards.

Soalheiro 40 Years Special Edition presents four Alvarinhos: two testimonies from distinct years, stored in stainless steel vats until now, and two blends proposed by us.

The 2015 L15 reflects a cold year in our territory and the 2018 L18 results from a warm vintage; the 2015 L1518 is essentially composed by the 2015 (cold) harvest, with 15% of the 2018 vintage (warm) and a winery secret, the 2018 L1815 was created with inverse percentages. A celebration of diversity and a winemaking game that we invite you to explore in blind tastings and with your own blends. The labels of these four wines pay homage to the original Soalheiro bottle, in a recreation that carries the name of the founder, João António Cerdeira, a tribute to the pioneer who created with the family the first Alvarinho brand in Melgaço.

The Herbal Tea from Our Vineyards is our first blend from The Pur Terroir collection, a limited edition of 1982 herbal teas to celebrate Soalheiro’s 40th anniversary the contains dehydrated Alvarinho grapes and is packed in a bag made with the Alvarinho harvest residuals. This Herbal Tea brings the essence of the vineyards of our territory into a teacup, blending natural elements of the vineyards such as skin and seeds of Alvarinho’s grape, Alvarinho vine leaves, rosemary, rose petals, spearmint, lemon balm, petals of strawberry fields globe amaranth and globe amaranth.