Carlos Campolargo is everything you would hope for in a Portuguese wine maker. He is larger than…read morelife, proud and passionate about wine, speaks excellent English and is prepared to spend time explaining his work. We arranged a visit at short notice but he was welcoming and spent two hours showing us around. This is a great place to visit whether you are a wine lover or simply interested in spending time in the countryside seeing how wine is produced by one of the biggest and best vineyards in the Barraida region. The vineyards are located in two proprieties: 110 hectares Quinta de S. Mateus in S. Lourenço do Bairro and 60 hectares, in Arcos, Quinta de Vale de Azar. Built by architect Carlos Ramos in 2004, the cellar at Quinta de S. Mateus produces high quality classical wines. The building fills an 18 metres high vertical cut in one of the vineyards hillsides facing south-west. The construction allows for the use of gravity in the entire winemaking process, from the picking of the grapes to final pressing. Apparently no strange yeasts, enzymes or bacteria are added to the winemaking. Hand picked grapes are disinfected, most of the times totally destemmed and tread mechanically. Red wines undergo natural malolatic fermentation in wood in 300 litre casks or 4200 litre wooden vats made from French or east-european oak. White wines, hardly ever destemmed, are decanted for a period of time after pressing followed by stainless steel or barrel fermentation. Sparkling wine is produced by the classic method of second fermentation in the bottle to produce excellent sparkling wines. Visitors can enjoy a journey through the whole winemaking process and try a selection of wines in the cellar gallery, at ground level by the vineyard, or 25 metres higher in the tasting room with its fantastic views of the soft hills covered by vineyards and, at far, the mountain range to the north. Wines can be purchased from the vineyard. All are excellent quality from light white wines, through sparkling wines to some big serious reds. The staff at the vineyard and owner Carlos Campolargo are very friendly and informative. A really good day out which can be enhanced by a visit for lunch to one of the many local restaurants that specialise in roast suckling pig!