Terroir
”IN THE CRADLE OF THE WINES OF THE REGION OF EVORA"
Quinta de São José de Peramanca is located five kilometers from Evora, on state highway 114. The large and traditional house, marked by baroque architecture, and the adjacent church of São José, helps the identification. With 34 acres, the greatest asset of the property is the manor house and its vineyard.
As for the peculiar name of the "Peramanca", it means "oscillating stone, unsafe", it’s explained by the existence of large, oscillating granite stones in the region. Since Roman times and over the centuries, the surrounding area to the west of Evora was considered one of the most important quality wine producing regions, having the area become known as the "Land of Peramanca", given the abundance of these swinging stones.
In the late nineteenth century, the wines produced there won several medals in international competitions. However, by that time, the scourge of phylloxera has come to end up with wine cultivation almost everywhere in the country.
These lands of Peramanca were no exception, and the vineyard area became reduced, for a time, to the terroir next to our farm. Today the wines Pêra-Grave, responsability of João Grave, are the last known fruits of that same terroir.
With unmatched features, the terroir of the Pêra-Grave wines is based on a granite mantle that lies between a meter and a half to two meters deep. At some points, the depth of the granite stone reaches 200 meters, which allows the water to circulate here at a more superficial level than in most terrains with vineyards. Incidentally, it’s this condition that explains, irrefutably, all the virtuosity of the history of the wines of this land, even in times where irrigation systems were nonexistent.
Since 2003, are planted in the Quinta de São José de Peramanca approximately 15.5 acres of vineyards where we highlight:
White:
- Arinto
- Verdelho
- Alvarinho
Red:
- Touriga Nacional
- Syrah
- Petit Syrah
- Alicante Bouschet
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Touriga Franca
- Petit Verdot