Cartuxa Colheita Branco, Evora

Description

Cartuxa Colheita Branco is a Portuguese white wine produced in the Evora sub-region of Alentejo, in south-central / southern Portugal. It is bottled as DOC Alentejo-Évora.

 Cartuxa wines are produced by Eugénio de Almeida Foundation. The foundation was created by Vasco Maria Eugénio de Almeida in 1963 to develop important social and cultural organisations across the region including Évora University, hospitals, social housing and numerous welfare institutions. The Cartuxa winery, Monte de Pinheiros, is located at Herdade de Pinheiros It is one of the oldest and most renowned wineries in Portugal. There have been vineyards at the Quinta de Valbom site since 1517 when the Jesuits established the second oldest university in Portugal. In the adjoining site, the Carthusians built the famous Cartuxa Monastery between 1587 and 1598. Eventually both the Jesuits and Carthusians were expelled from Portugal and their properties were acquired by the government. The Eugénio de Almeida family acquired the estate in 1871 and set about rescueing it from ruin.

Today the estate consists of 1050 hectares spread across four estates: 650 hectares of which they own and 400 hectares which are on long-term contracts. The vineyards are made up of the Pinheiros, Casito, Álamo de Cima, Álamo da Horta and Quinta de Valbom estates. The winery produces several brands including EA, Foral de Evora, Cartuxa adn the fabled Pêra-Manca. As well as excellent wines, olive oil production is extremely important and there are now some 400 hectares of olive groves producing fine quality extra virgin olive oils.

Cartuxa Colheita Branco is a blend of Antao Vaz and Arinto grapes, planted in the Fundacao Eugenio de Almeida vineyards. When the grapes have reached full maturity they are carefully harvested, de-stalked and gently crushed. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel vats at a controlled temperature of 16°C and the wine is matured on lees for a further nine months, with batonage.