Festival da nossa terra
The theme is wine
Regional traditions and different cultures, expressed in music and national costumes
The familiar sounds of chitchatting pickers, the snipping of their secateurs working their way through the vineyards and the surging of the tractor engine in the distance as the grapes are being brought to the Adega remind us, that yet another wine-year of hard work is culminating in that glorious time, the vindima.
A decade in the history of Quinta de Sant’Ana is nothing. Still, if we think back, a lot has happened since the early days of the Festival. It began as a small harvest lunch and has become the regional highlight, having grown tenfold in popularity since its first edition in 2007.
Early mornings, late nights – planting, managing wires, picking, selecting, destemming, crushing, treading, fermenting, pressing and again and again: sanitizing – the aromas of fermenting wine in the air, hands and feet dyed in that violet colour, the sure give-aways of the cellar workers.The light is intense, the leaves turn from green to yellow, orange, red, magenta, purple, plum…time to give in to that archaic sentiment of thanksgiving, to a sense of “saudades” to be with friends and family again, to celebrate the harvest and enjoy the good things in life. Come October and we prepare for the FESTIVAL DA NOSSA TERRA: a charity event celebrating our “terra”, meaning the earth we live on, our terra, meaning the village of Gradil we call ours, and our terra, meaning the actual bit of land we feel privileged enough to steward. We feel great support from “the locals” and also from a group of German friends, led by Joachim Goll, that were the driving force behind the Festival right from the start. Culinary treats include hog roasts, wood oven baked Mafra bread, “Água Pé” with roasted chestnuts, the famous “Stone Soup”, German onion tart, traditional rice cinnamon pudding, delicious Waffeln, all enjoyed in Dirndl & Lederhosen, folkloric dance groups in local costumes, entertainment for big and small, a music programme with excellent (Jazz) bands plus Fires, Fun and Fandango!Come celebrate the harvest with us, come and eat pork on the spit, taste the new wines and the agua pé, freshly baked bread from the wood oven, with garlic. Sit on the bales of straw, come and laugh, sing and dance with us! Let yourself be inspired by the Portuguese-German culture and get moving!
Wine Dinners
Wine Dinners or Jantares Vínicos are great fun for us. We spend the whole year putting our heart and soul into other people´s events, and yet our biannual Wine Dinners are for us! For our team, for our friends, for our neighbours, for our enthusiastic wine clients and open to the public too for as many people as we can squeeze in!
We spend weeks preparing the decor, invites and itineraries and it’s a chance for our Chefs to have some fun with the menus; concocting thoughtful and curious pairings with our wines, using seasonal produce as their guide and wherever possible, organic produce from the farm itself. If you would like to be kept updated with these events please follow us on social media or join our newsletter.
Wine launches & releases
We pride ourselves on an ever-changing, ever-evolving, ever-experimental range of wines, and therefore we are often launching limited edition wines, old vintages, new varietal wines… which means, all in all, a great excuse for a party… We create unique events that lend themselves to the wines in question; a Midsummer Wine and Oyster evening to celebrate the Launch of our first Sparkling Rosé, a Vineyard Wander, Wine tasting and Picnic to mark the Launch of our first organic vintage, a Christmas Market with Wine & Cheese pairing for the launch of a special edition 10 year old Merlot… the list goes on! These events are open to the public, but often sell out fast, so please stay updated by following us on social media or joining our newsletter.