Founded in 2000 by Antonio Lopes Ribeiro, Casa de Mouraz, located in Mouraz, area of Tondela, Portugal was the first Dão producer to work organically, and later biodynamically. Dão is one of the most important and prestigious wine areas in Portugal.
This pioneering and innovative project of ecological farmed wine was created to produce authentic wines that express all the richness of their terroir and respect the cycles of nature.
The farm, with 13 hectares, is spread through ten parcels with different soils, altitudes and surroundings. Old and new planted vineyards coexist with the pine-, oak-, chestnut- and cork-tree forests. The soils are predominantly made up of granite and clay, and lie at altitudes ranging from 140 to 400 meters. Sunny sides prevail.
The year 2000 marked the birth of the CASA de MOURAZ trademark, the first wine produced in the region of Dão, according to the rules of organic farming. The purpose of this pioneering and innovative project of ecological farm wine production is to create authentic and customized wines that express all the richness of its terroir and respect the cycles of nature.
Antonio Lopes Ribeiro emphasizes the use of a gentle technology applying a pneumatic press with controlled cold press and a combination of stainless steel and French oak with a long maceration on the skins for his red wines prior maturation. Ribeiro’s wines show all the hallmarks of non-interventionist, natural winemaking.
Yes, we had. But António was born in the farm, on the first floor of his parents house (on the ground floor, there was an old winery, with tanks and “lagar”). All his life he dreamt to becoming a wine producer.
When António had the opportunity to do his first wine, he decided to do it. He stoped the work as editor in the art magazine “Número” and did his first vintage.
It’s the way to keep the farm that his father and grandfather created alive, and producing wines that express the land, the culture and increase value from the old vines. His father did not make his own wine, only sold the grapes to other producers and the cooperative. And all of this using ecological principles, respecting the land and the people.
