Alternative ways of going and staying green in the wine industry in Portugal
As I look at what’s new in wine in 2025, I am optimistic. Not only is Portugal producing prolific wines and increasing its worldwide reputation, but we are also at the forefront of sustainability.
Believe it or not, the wine industry in Portugal has traditionally been way ahead of the curve in continuing to invest in ancient traditions and modern futures in a green way. Here are just a few examples of what producers, from north to south, large and small, are doing to take the future into their own hands.
Covela
A winery I’ve been familiar with since the beginning of my sommelier career, it is not only certified organic but is the first Portuguese vineyard to be awarded the international seal for regenerative viticulture. Located in the Vinho Verde region, winemaker Rui Cunha is using an interesting and local alternative to sulphites.
Most winemakers use small amounts of added sulphites to protect the wine from vineyard to bottle, but it may not be necessary any longer. The alternative discovered here in Portugal in the last decade is chestnut flowers. Instead of using chemical stabilisers such as sulphites for their Covela Avesso Natur bottling, Rui is using the male flowers of chestnut trees that are growing around the quinta. Packed with antioxidants, fungicides and anti-bacterial properties, chestnut flowers can replace sulphites. They’re not allergenic and have no impact on the flavour or colour of wine. So those of you who are unusually sensitive to sulphites in wine can drink this wine without worry for just €17 online from their website.
Herdade do Cebolal
This multi-generational estate is located on the Alentejo coast, in the village of Vale das Éguas, and is possibly one of my favourite producers from the west side of the Alentejo. It is a fourth- and fifth-generation family-run winery working on regeneration and slowly converting its land into syntropic agriculture (an intensive form of agroforestry that imitates market gardening and slash and mulch agroforestry).
Over the last few years, the owners have been using eco-friendly philosophies based on agroforestry, syntropic agriculture techniques and permaculture design with low chemical intervention. One of the products the producer uses in their vineyard is the closest, most natural and most incredible benefits: seaweed. It’s free, it’s natural and is the perfect alternative to replacing industrial fertilisers. Our local seaweed contains nutrients that promote canopy root growth and enhance vine root growth by 50 to 60 per cent. All Herdade do Cebolal wines are special and worth popping the cork on. Check them out online, or you can find their wines at Mosto in Lagos or in Sul in Burgau.
Talha Mafia
This small adega, located in Vila de Frades, Alentejo, was started by a group of friends and family who were passionate about producing small lots of natural wines. They use a winemaking process that’s more than 2,000 years old. Together, they produce Talha (amphora) wine, preserving an ancient approach to wine that naturally uses less energy and less chemical intervention, and offers pure, unadulterated liquid joy.
Every year, Vila de Frades produces a specific wine they put in a box and it’s delicious! I realise boxed wine usually comes with a negative context as it’s been traditionally used for inexpensive everyday glug glug table wines. However, not all boxed wines are alike! Did you know boxed wine has a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to traditional glass bottles? The manufacturing and transportation of boxed wine require less energy, resulting in fewer CO2 emissions. Also, how can one complain about having a wine on tap that’s easily transportable, storable and can last up to six weeks once opened? You can also recycle the box, re-inflate the wine bladder and hang it in your vineyard or fruit trees to deter the birds.
This adega is close to my heart as I’m a huge fan of Talha wine and this group of amazing people. You can find their wine in most wine shops and restaurants and the boxed wine online or at Mosto in Lagos for €39,90.
Prior Lucas
An inspiring small independent winemaker with several small parcels scattered around Coimbra and the Bairrada region, Rui Lucas embodies ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. As the founder, owner and winemaker, he cultivates dozens of plots that other winegrowers are abandoning. In my opinion, his mission is one to admire, follow and support.
By reusing wine bottles and wine shipping boxes from all over the country, he reduces the use of dry materials in packaging, contributes to the concept of a circular economy and consequently creates twice as much work for himself. Phew! But he believes we’re worth it.
Take a road trip and make the time to see him. Rui will not only teach you how to saber (a technique to open the bottle), but you’ll also love his stories, all his espumantes, and his extraordinary dry table wines.
Dominó
A modest husband-and-wife project located in the Serra de São Mamede hills in the upper Alentejo, Vitor and his wife founded the business out of the desire to make wine and express terroir. They focus on creating low-intervention wines full of life and reviving old, sometimes forgotten vineyards, which are integral to their winemaking philosophy.
Although a small winery, they work with several other parcels in Colares, Bairrada and Portalegre. These vineyards, some with vines as old as 80 years, are farmed using organic practices. One of these, perhaps unusual, practices is using discarded whey and milk products from their local dairy. They use this whey to fertilise their vineyards. Whey and milk products used as fertilisers and sprays in the vineyard can effectively combat moisture and powdery mildew in the vineyard, which is potentially one of the biggest problems viticulturists face. The whey alters the pH balance of the leaves and soil, making it less hospitable to moisture and encouraging new, healthy microbial life. It is an amazing way to substitute a natural waste product that would otherwise be dumped for industrial herbicides and fungicides in the vineyard.
Esporão
One of the largest estates in the Alentejo and, consequently, one of the largest certified organic estates in the country, Esporão boasts 441ha of vines and 93ha of organic olive groves while constantly proving its commitment to sustainability, biodiversity and a circular economy. Esporão is perhaps on the cutting edge of methods and techniques to implement these practices and a prolific estate to follow.
One small way they are moving forward is by modifying their vineyard practices and encouraging their vines to have a bit more of a sprawl instead of keeping tidy, neat rows. This small change helps to naturally mitigate sunburn during the intense summers. In combination with encouraging more leaf canopy, they spray their more susceptible vines with a white clay called kaolin, a sort of organic sunscreen for the vines. * Using the clay and decreasing the number of trips down the rows in tractors for pruning, the estate is lessening its dependence on and use of fossil fuels while also utilising natural products and encouraging biodiversity.
Visit their estate or even just their website to get the full picture of their incredible commitment to us and the environment.
*Harmless and easy to wipe off, you may have also seen this clay on a few of your melons here in the Algarve, as it’s used agriculturally as well.
Put a cork in it!
And lastly, this is not what you would have guessed, but you and I also have input on going green in the world of wine. By simply choosing a bottle with a real cork you will be doing your part to lessen the carbon footprint of wine. The cork trees themselves are ‘carbon negative’ and despite the process of manufacturing corks for wine bottles, using a cork still reduces a bottle of wine’s carbon footprint. Researchers have found that using natural cork to seal a bottle of wine captured up to 309g of CO2. That means a wine bottle sealed with cork can have half the carbon footprint of a wine bottle sealed with a screw top.
Cork forests are dry-farmed (another method of green and sustainable agriculture) and protected, eliminating the need for irrigation and encouraging biodiversity. Because cork is cultivated by removing the bark rather than cutting down the tree itself, the trees survive for centuries, so using cork is a win-win!
I am happy to report that there are many, many more examples of how winemakers here are working together and independently to be more conscientious. This article is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I encourage you to tell me what other methods and wineries you’ve discovered.
Did you know
The Alentejo region has long been the guardian of Talha wines in Portugal. Here, the techniques developed by the Romans for making wine in the clay amphorae called Talhas have been safeguarded.
Candace Olsen is a wine consultant, sommelier and guide for wine-tasting tours and events.
candyleacane@me.com
