The new Winery
The winery promotes a strong link with nature, using such material as oak and cork
The Winery
The winery in harmony with nature
The new winery achieves a symbiosis between sustainability and the future, with a strong connection to Nature, using natural materials such as wood and cork. Designed by the architect Carlos Castanheira (a renowned Portuguese architect, recognised for his many works in natural materials, and several collaborations with Siza Vieira) with a simple and functional design, the 2500 m2 building is perfectly framed against the forest plateau, next to the Ribeira das Fontainhas.
From the large balcony and tasting room, you can see the Taboadella’s main building and see the magnificent vineyard in a single glance. With a current winemaking capacity of 290,000 litres per harvest, the two naves (winemaking and barrels) were designed to maintain a perfect balance between light and shade, enabling natural sunlight to enter in precisely the right amount, to create the ideal environment and temperature to create great Dão wines.
The reception wharf to the north allows high rigor in the wine making process, separating all the bunches of grapes by size and removing the necessary seeds. Gravity flow winemaking is "tailor-made" in cement vats and state-of-the-art stainless steel conical vats, corresponding exactly to the classic batches of the Taboadella terroir, where you feel that each harvest is guided by human hand, rather than the other way around.
Precision winemaking
In the first winemaking nave, in the grape reception area, the grapes are sorted using two pieces of equipment: first on a vibrating mat, which makes it possible to remove all the insects and the dry, malformed or green grapes, and then on the visual selection mat where the perfect bunches of grapes are selected.
The key element of the winery is the Pellenc destemmer / crusher which, using mechanical vibration, enables the desired amount of grape seeds to be removed, in order to vinify wines with a smoother profile, avoiding more angular tannins. This equipment, combined with the centrifugal crusher, controls the intensity of the destemming process, by calibrating the grapes, separating the driest and greenest ones, which do not have perfect maturation.
Rigour in the gravity flow winemaking
The gravity flow winemaking is customised. To avoid pumping in the transfer of pre-fermented masses, we opt for OVNIs (mass transport cars) which prevent tearing of the grape skins and breakage of grape seeds, which are then transferred to eleven Nico Velo 10,000 litre cement vats, 9 tons of winemaking, which have mineral notes and finer and deeper textures. There are also ten 15,000-litre stainless steel conical vats for red wines/ 12 tons each, eight 8000-litre stainless steel vats for white wines / 10 tons each, corresponding exactly to the classic batches of the Taboadella terroir.
Contemplation in the Barrel Top Walk
Visitors to Taboadella’s winery soon realise the precision of the gravity flow winemaking when they cross the Barrel Top Walk - a wooden walkway built high above the barrel room. The innovative architectural design provides a global perspective of the place where the wine is left to mature and gains its own expression over time, interacting with the space in an almost organic manner.
From the Barrel Top Walk visitors can contemplate the silence of the winery, where the wines are aged in 500-litre French oak barrels, from oak trees between 180 and 200 years old, originating from the famous forests of Tronçais and Bercé and hand-made by about six cooperages in Burgundy and Bordeaux, with the aim of prolonging the wines, conferring greater complexity and refinement to the batches.