Serra Oca Branco 2023

It is near Cadaval, a village located 80 km north of Lisbon, right at the foot of the Serra de Montejunto – a region known for its fruit-growing potential – that the Vivas family has been putting its agricultural ideas into practice at Quinta do Olival da Murta for four generations. Nearly a century ago, starting with 100 hectares of planted vineyards and under the leadership of the visionary Manuel Vivas, the estate reached its peak. Work on the estate focused on wine production, supported by a winery equipped with the necessary infrastructure to handle a production capacity of approximately 1 million liters. After Vivas’s death, his daughter and son-in-law, Cândida and José, took over the business, but times had changed, and so the estate’s momentum began to wane. Compounding this was the fact that none of the daughters felt inclined to carry on their father’s work. Quinta do Olival da Murta thus entered a period of decline and stagnation.

It was not until the 21st century that the estate rose from the ashes, when, in 2011, Joana Vivas, Manuel Vivas’s granddaughter, decided to trade her career as an archaeologist and her cosmopolitan life in Lisbon for Cadaval. It wasn’t long before her siblings Francisco, Madalena, and Mafalda, as well as her cousin José, joined her. Although none of them had previously studied agronomy or oenology, the five heirs and cousins enthusiastically set out to revive the estate their grandparents had built from its state of neglect. The division of tasks and the management of the estate are handled as pragmatically as possible, combining dedication and experimentation.

One of the first steps taken by the group and their family was to find a name for their wine-making project, and to that end they drew inspiration from the Serra de Montejunto, which shapes the region’s Atlantic climate, giving the estate’s vineyards a unique microclimate. Since the mountain range is a limestone massif with a vast array of cave systems, this served as the inspiration for the name they chose: Serra Oca.

After the first harvests, Joana felt that the path to follow was to prioritize quality over quantity, and to do so, they would have to implement practices in the vineyard and winery consistent with those of organic farming. She presented her vision to the family team, who welcomed the idea with enthusiasm, and it wasn’t long before the vineyards and winery obtained organic certification in 2021. It is also worth noting that, imbued with the philosophy of producing wine in its purest and most natural form, the family realized that owning 20 hectares of vineyards gave them the enormous advantage of being able to select the best grapes to produce their desired 30,000 bottles annually. The grapes that are ultimately not used are sold, which provides them with another financial advantage.

Nowadays, the wines produced by the Vivas family are prime examples of how respect for nature and the use of environmentally sustainable production methods can result in the creation of fresh, authentic, and long-lasting wines. All wines are made from Portuguese grape varieties; fermentation occurs through the action of indigenous yeasts, and with the exception of small amounts of sulfites, no chemicals are used. The emphasis is placed on highlighting the characteristics that the geological and ecological landscape of the Serra do Montejunto provides each year, and to honor nature’s will, Serra Oca wines are given as much time as they need in the cellar to reveal themselves.