Dona Maria - Julio Bastos

The origins of the winery date back to the mid-18th century, when King Joao V gave this estate to his mistress Dona Maria. Wine has been produced there for 130 years, but it was not until the current owner, Júlio Tassara Bastos, began marketing the wine internationally in 1988. In 1992, he formed a joint venture with Lafite/ Domaines Barons de Rothschild under the name Quinta do Carmo. In 2000, he got out of this project and invested in the restoration of his own Quinta do Carmo as well as in state-of-the-art technology and old vineyards in order to build on his earlier successes of the 1980s with the Dona Maria wine.

That he has succeeded in this is proven by his successes with the first vintage of 2003: great gold at Mundus Vini, only 17 times this award was given out of 4445 wines submitted. The grapes for the Reserva wine are still traditionally trampled in the so-called "lagares" of marble and come from vines about 60 years old, which are not irrigated. The young oenologist Sandra Goncalves is doing incredible things.

The success was crowned in February 2010 by Revista dos Vinhos. The winery was awarded the coveted title of "Producer of the Year", the Oscar of wines.