At Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris 2022, the Portuguese winery Coelheiros was in search of importers to take on the wines made at its attractive estate

Hailing from an area that can trace its winemaking back centuries, the Portuguese winery Herdade de Coelheiros has a rich heritage – but at Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris 2022, the focus was very much on the present.
With a selection of red and white wines from its two key brands – Coelheiros and Tapada de Coelheiros – on display, Mariana Tavares, the commercial director, said she was looking to expand exports to other parts Europe. “We’re trying to get some new clients from countries that we don’t sell in yet,” she said.
Currently, about 50% of the annual production of 120,000 bottles is sold within Portugal, with other key export markets including China, the US, Brazil and France. Around 70% of the production is red wine and the rest is white.
Production takes place at the company’s 800-hectare estate, around 50 hectares of which is for wine production. The vines are in seven plots at an average altitude of 300 metres and are being converted to organic production.
The rest of the estate is involved in a variety of other agricultural production, including walnuts, and includes a very large area of cork forest, where sheep and deer graze freely, reflecting the importance given to biodiversity and sustainability.
Coelheiros dates back to 1991, a decade after the vines were planted, but there is evidence that wine production has taken place in the region for centuries.
“It’s a mosaic of different cultures all embedded, and we have wine tourism. People can come and taste the wines and visit the estate and see where they come from,” said Mariana.