Beer Became Wine

It all started when the big landlord and beer magnate José Rovisco Pais donated his Pegões properties to the Lisbon State Hospitals. On these properties the Government implemented a large “colonization” project, donating land to thousands of agricultural workers and directing the plantation of 830 hectares of vineyard. The Cooperative was established on March the 7 th 1958 in order to give technical and logistic support to the “colons”. Part of the support consisted in the reception and processing of their grapes. The first Pegões wines where than born.

At the beginning the Cooperative received financial and technical support from the State.

As a consequence of the Portuguese revolution of 1974, the Cooperative was taken over and a period of instability followed. This process was later reversed and over the last fifteen years the Cooperative followed a systematic strategy of modernization and financial consolidation with the key objective of continuously improving the quality and value of its wines.

During this period the Cooperative spent about 15.000.000€ to buy new vinification and cold stabilization equipment and several batteries of vats for fermentation under controlled temperature. Other equipment purchased included pneumatic and vacuum presses, a modern bottle filling, labelling and packaging line, effluent treatment facilities, cellars for wine aging with more than 3.000 casks, improvements to the buildings and access roads, etc.

Advanced computing systems were installed for administrative and process control purposes.

The Cooperative is certified in accordance with NP EN ISO 9001:2000 and HACCP.

What Makes The Difference? “The Pegões Terroir”

The Pegões Terroir is located between two Nature Reserves – the Tagus estuary to the Northwest and the Sado on the Southwest, on the east side of the Arrabida hills and on the west side of the Alentejo´s province clays. The Pegões region is unique in climate and soil conditions.

The climate is Mediterraneam type and the soil, named “Pliocenico de Pegões”, is a sandy soil formed over millions of years by sand transported by the rivers Tagus and Sado. It is climate / soil combination that gives birth to the unique Pegões wines.

What Are We Nowadays

Nowadays, Pegões is a modern and competitive winery recognised both in the domestic and international markets. Pegões wines have been distinguished with more than 500 awards at the most important international wine contest, on the last 10 years. We have been distinguished in 2014 the 4 th winery in Portugal and the 37 th in the world.

With a vineyards area of 1117 hectares and an average annual grape production of about 11.000.000 tons, 70% red and 30% white. The red varities are: Castelão (Periquita) 65% and Touriga Nacional, Aragonês and Cabernet Sauvignon, amongst others 35%. As for the whites, the majority are Fernão Pires 40% and Muscat 25%, Tamarez, Arinto, Antão Vaz, Verdelho and Chardonnay making up the remaining 35%.

The winery produces a wide variety of wines – Regional, Selected Harvest and Vintage wines, as well as specialities like Muscat, Eau de Vie and Sparkling wines.

We sell all the production, of about 9 million litters, in bottles (12 millions) – 65% for the domestic market and 35% for export.