Vinho da Ordem

This project was born out of one of the “Conversations around Wine” held at the College of Agronomy of the Southern Region of the Order of Engineers, which encouraged the producer and his family to recover a vineyard once used by various religious orders, such as the Order of the Temple, which had been producing wine since the beginning of Portugal’s foundation, thus preserving a small part of Portugal’s History and Culture. The Jerónimo family and the wine producer, Eng. Pedro Jerónimo, accompanied by Professor Virgílio Loureiro and Professor José Sobral, are developing a project to restore the “Vinha da Ordem” which is situated in the village of Valhelhas, in the Estrela UGGp, in a hidden valley on the left bank of the Zêzere River. The anchor product of this project is the Vinho da Ordem (Ordem Wine), inspired in the matrix of the ancient wines of Europe.

Vinho da Ordem is made with a blend of white and red grape varieties previously defined when the vineyard was planted, many decades ago, according to secular traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. The grapes are vinified with tanning so that the final wine becomes claret, which in the Middle Ages was known as red wine and had a deep religious meaning, as it had the colour of the “blood of Christ”. The grape varieties used in this old wine are representative of the old vineyards of Beira Interior and include Rufete, Jaen, Bastardinho, Marouco and Baga, among the reds, and Fonte Cal, Síria and Folgosão Rosado, among the whites and pinks.