Quinta das Bágeiras | Bairrada

When he founded Quinta das Bágeiras in 1989, Mário Sérgio Alves Nuno elected to take a different path from his forebears, becoming a vigneron, rather than selling the family’s grapes or wine to the local co-operative or négociants. Fortunately, he also opted for a different path from the big guns. Targeting shiny new export markets, the négociants were also targeting shiny new grape varieties, including French grapes which, in 2003, were permitted for Bairrada DOC wines. However, as much as Nuno is passionate about Champagne (he visits the region every year), for him “quality means nothing without identity.” A champion of Bairrada’s traditional grapes, whether for sparkling wines (espumantes) or still, Quinta das Bágeiras is amongst the region’s most prestigious estate-bottlers.