In the very north of Portugal just south of the Minho River, which forms the northern border between Portugal and Spanish Galicia, are the villages of Monção and Melgaço. These two towns form a unique sub-appellation of the larger Vinho Verde region and is the only place in Portugal in which the primary grape permitted to be grown is Alvarinho, the same grape as Albariño across the river in Spain.

Alvarinho is a much higher maintenance and lower yielding grape than typical Vinho Verde staples Trajadura, Loureiro and Pedernã aka Arinto, but it rewards the added attention required in producing world class wines that are not your typical $6.99 grocery store Vinho Verde.

Adega de Monção, located just outside the village, is the largest Vinho Verde cooperative in the region. They produce the signature Muralhas de Monção Branco (85% Alvarinho), Muralhas de Monção Rosado and the Trajarinho Vinho Verde, all available in California, as well as several 100% varietal Alvarinhos and a delicious Vinho Verde Tinto that we hope to have in California soon.

There’s a perception that wines produced by co-ops are somehow lesser wines than those that are estate produced; that co-ops are mass production lines that put little care or attention into the product they make. Adega de Monção showed that clearly was not the case. Although as the region’s largest cooperative they control over 1200 hectares of vines, those vines are owned by 1600 individual growers. The cooperative board and staff are all growers themselves, including head wine maker Antonio Lourenco, vice-president and sales director Armando Rodrigues Fontainhas and Antonino Pires Barbosa, the president of the co-operative. The Adega has a team that works with their individual growers to ensure quality grapes from every producer with the wine maker himself making frequent vineyard visits. The co-op also offers substantial economic incentives to produce the best quality grapes: Alvarinho, all of which is hand-harvested, that meets co-op standards is purchased for as much as €1.15 per kilo, lesser grapes that are used in blends or sold off to other producers fetch a tenth that amount. The business direction of the cooperative is determined at regular meetings where each grower has one vote, regardless of how many hectares he or she owns. Adega de Monção isn’t a factory co-op, it’s a collective of small family farmers pooling their resources to produce wine of a quality and on a scale that would be unachievable with growers working independently.

On our visit to Monção we toured the city and saw the famous “Walls (Muralhas) of Monção” from which the Adega’s signature wine gets its name. Most of Monção, from the church to the paving stones, is built from the local granite which helps give the soil its unique mineral character, and the entire village is encircled in massive granite walls. These walls were key in successfully repelling numerous Spanish invasions from across the river, including a siege in 1368 when Deu La Deu Martins, the mayor’s wife, scraped together enough flour and water to bake a few last loaves of bread and threw them over the walls to the Castilian attackers shouting “If you need any more, just ask!” The Spanish, thinking that Monção still had plentiful resources, were discouraged from their siege and retreated. Adega de Monção’s flagship wine is named after her.

From the granite walls to the attention and care that goes into every grape, the terroir of Monção–its history, people and culture–are expressed brilliantly in its wines.

by David Duman