HMR Pousio

The estate is located in the parish of Pedrogão, Municipality of Vidigueira, next to the village of Marmelar, about 17 km east of Vidigueira. It is very close to the Alqueva reservoir, about 13 km in a straight

line.

It has an area of 1.100 acres, most of which is on the southern slope of Serra do Mendro and is made up of Mediterranean forest, with several species of native trees, pontificating the oak tree (Sobreiro), the wild olive tree (Zambujeiro), the holm oak (Azinheira) and the strawberry tree (Medronheiro). It is crossed by Ribeira de Marmelar which, next to the estate winery, has a dam that creates one of the 3 large water reservoirs for agricultural use in the estate. The current main farming explorations are 43 hectares of vineyards and 210 hectares of traditional, intensive and hedgerow olive groves.

The Herdade do Monte da Ribeira dates back to 08/04/1958. It was then acquired in 1986 by the industrialist Victor Carmona e Costa who, for the next 15 years, not only completely reformed the estate, but also omplemented the entire productive agricultural structure and winery.

The Estate is owned by Casa Agrícola HMR SA which is entirely owned by a foundation bearing the name of its two Founders, the Victor and Graça Carmona e Costa Foundation. The foundation, with its own headquarters and facilities in Lisbon, is dedicated to supporting contemporary art in Portugal. Casa Agrícola HMR SA is one of its foundational assets. “Wines that tell stories, olive oils that mark memories.”

The first vine of Herdade do Monte da Ribeira was planted in 1989 and, in parallel, a wine cellar was built. The first harvest, in 1992, was sold under the Vidigueira brand. Later the brands Pousio, Quatro Caminhos and, recently, Marmelar were added. In recent years the winery has been modernized and, for about 12 years, the vineyard has been expanded and restructured, currently occupying acres. The white grape varieties Alvarinho, Antão Vaz, Arinto, Roupeiro and Verdelho occupy one third of the total vineyard area. The current red grape varieties are Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez, Berry, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Syrah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira, which occupy the remaining two thirds of the vineyard. In harvest years when production is abundant, the estate has been able to produce almost 400,000 bottles of white, red and rosé wine. In 2019 your wines will be marketed under the brands “Quatro Caminhos”, “Pousio Selection”, “Pousio Escolha”, “Pousio Reserva” e tinto premium “Marmelar”, which, since the RIBEIRA first commercialized harvest in 1992, have been receiving numerous awards and national and international distinctions. In 2018 launches its first varietal, soon recognized in national and international markets for its excellent quality, thus the first Pousio Alicante Boushet is born. After the success of the mono-grape Alicante Bouschet, the Pousio Arinto went out to the market, with all its freshness and grapefruit notes. At the beginning of the summer of 2020, the new bivarietal Pousio Antão Vaz and Alvarinho came out, a fresh and intense wine. Following the success of the Alicante Boushet, Pousio Arinto now goes to market in the summer of 2019, with all its freshness and grapefruit notes. The main market of the estate’s wine is the domestic one, but exportations keep rising, adding up to 26% of our gross income of 2018. The strategy of Herdade do Monte da Ribeira's wine business focuses on marketing and producing wines from the estate vineyards, with ever-increasing quality. We do not aim to be the market leaders, but we aim to produce the best Alentejo wines.