Aboard the Sagres School Ship Heading to the USA

The Moscatel de Favaios Colheita 1999 traveled 13,162 nautical miles aboard the Sagres Ship, stopped at 16 ports, and was visited by 95,137 people over six months. A grand journey for this sweet wine from Portugal, made historic by the viticulturists of the small Douro village, who are members of Adega de Favaios.

Our brave story also includes adventures across the seas. This one, noted here in logbook fashion, involves two barrels of Moscatel de Favaios 1999.

October 30, 2017

This story of the 1999 Douro Moscatel’s journey through international waters actually begins six months earlier with a symbolic and partnership act: Adega de Favaios creates the M80 Moscatel for the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Sagres School Ship, with a personalized and exclusive label.

April 12, 2018

Before the great journey, the preparations. Checking and sealing of the barrels by the competent authority, IVDP – Instituto do Vinhos do Porto e Douro.

April 19, 2018

For the first time, Adega de Favaios’ Douro Moscatel embarks on a journey aboard the Sagres School Ship. Two barrels of Moscatel Colheita 1999 from Adega de Favaios leave Lisbon Naval Base, heading to the United States.

May 1, 2018

Aboard the Sagres Ship, the crew and guests sample aged Moscatéis from Adega de Favaios, including our ‘traveler’, the 1999 Moscatel. Also included in the tasting are the Moscatel de Favaios 1989 and Moscatel de Favaios 1980. This tasting will be repeated on the return trip, in Azorean ports.

June 6, 2018

41 days later. Many miles of sea, some wind, and lots of salt. We have already enchanted the city of Philadelphia, passed through the port of Newark, and are now in Newport. The barrels of Moscatel de Favaios Colheita 1999 continue to “work” to return even more special from this journey under the care of the Sagres School Ship.

July 2, 2018

At coordinate 25º47’16. In one of the most beautiful places on the planet, after 65 days at sea and with a temperature of 30º. Our Moscatel 1999 continues its aging, to come back even more exuberant!

September 5, 2018

The two barrels of Moscatel Colheita 1999 from Adega de Favaios arrive in Lisbon after traveling 13,161 nautical miles, passing through 16 ports, and being visited by 95,137 people. The two barrels return to Adega de Favaios in early November 2018, where they still remain.

The history of Favaios is intertwined with that of the cooperative winery that brought the most popular Moscatel in Portugal to life. This Douro wine village has a long history and heritage that are now being captured in a book.

The Douro wine village where Moscatel de Favaios is born has much history to share. Inhabited since pre-Roman times, it was an important economic center in the Middle Ages and has played a crucial role in the Douro region, notably through the efforts of various local leaders in defending the plateau and this UNESCO World Heritage wine region.

“The wealth of heritage in our community,” as understood by Adega de Favaios, should be recorded “for future memory,” explained Rui Paredes, a board member of the cooperative, during the book launch of “Favaios, História e Património” on Saturday, November 12, at Adega de Favaios.

“This book also represents Adega de Favaios’s sense of social responsibility,” noted historian Gaspar Martins Pereira, the book’s coordinator: “The most important company in Favaios wanted to offer the people of Favaios a book about their history, their heritage, and about itself, as an integrator of the heritage and economy of Favaios.”

Gaspar Martins Pereira also praised “the strong involvement of Favaios’s vintners in the cooperative” and highlighted the importance of collective participation for the sustainable future of the parish, which is also marked by depopulation and an aging population affecting the country’s interior.

If Favaios has managed to preserve “identity aspects with two thousand years of history,” we can only conclude that we are dealing with “a people with a future,” concluded the renowned historian.

The book launch is part of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of Adega Cooperativa de Favaios, which will also include the release in December of a commemorative Moscatel, a limited edition featuring the best seven harvests from the last seven decades of Moscatel stored at the Adega.

Adega de Favaios Challenges Its Members to Revive Pruning Practices That Extend the Life and Health of the Vine

The alarm is being sounded by the enologist at Adega de Favaios. “Vine pruning in the Douro, as in many wine regions around the world, is aggressive and mutilating.” According to our Director of Oenology, Miguel Ferreira, this crucial early-cycle intervention is the one that “most influences the health and longevity of the plant, as well as the quality of the wines,” and is clearly “undervalued”: “We talk a lot about actions in the winery, but the vintner can influence wine quality much more than the oenologist.”

Professionalizing pruning should be a priority in the Douro, he argues, acknowledging that “it is alarming to see a producer entrusting a fundamental task for the health and longevity of the vine to unskilled workers with no experience in the field.” “A more respectful pruning approach for the vine is vital for the Douro,” he concludes.

In this spirit, the training in respectful or gentle pruning, organized by Adega between February 27 and March 3, is a pioneering contribution in Portugal to reviving old pruning methodologies that allow for a healthy vineyard and quality production over many years.

The pruning course is part of a series of meetings on regenerative viticulture that Adega de Favaios will promote in the spring of 2023. This training series, open to the entire Douro Demarcated Region, aims to raise awareness among vintners about the importance of adopting viticulture practices that enhance and enrich the vineyard soil, making them more resilient to diseases and climate adversities.

“Given its history and size, Adega Cooperativa de Favaios plays a significant role in the Douro region, and in this sense, we want to involve the Adega as much as possible in the development and pressing issues of current agriculture and ecology, believing that we are thus contributing to the sustainability and future of the territory,” emphasizes Mário Monteiro, President of the Board of Adega de Favaios.