Vinhos Cortém

Founded in 2004 by Christopher Price, an english film sound engineer and his wife Helga Wagner a german sound editor, Vinhos Cortém Is a small (4.5 hectares) organic winery set in the hills and valleys a few kilometers east of Caldas da Rainha. Although the agriculture in this area is now predominantly fruit growing, one hundred years ago only vines were cultivated and winemaking was the main activity as the many old wineries and presses bear witness.

The idea to make wine started as a small personal project with one field but has grown now to a full time job for us both and will soon be producing about 12000 bottles a year. Our love of wine has been the driving force and although we had no formal training in winemaking we have taken part in many seminars, talked with winemakers,read books searched the internet, as well as doing the work at every stage of the process including planting, pruning, care of the vines, and the winemaking. So in this way we have learnt the basics of this art, but there is still a long way to go.

Our aim is to make wines which have their own special flavour and quality, and to accomplish this we think that the terroir of Cortém with its cool and temperate Atlantic climate will produce wines where one can, above all, taste the grape variety and enjoy the special flavour of Cortém.