Portugal · Douro

Companhia de Vinhos Invencível lda

A Cima Corgo Douro joint venture from Rita Marques and Marc Kent, making small-quantity old-vine wines led by the six-grape Invincible Red Number Two 2021.

The producer

Companhia de Vinhos Invencível began in Casais do Douro in 2020, when Portuguese winemaker Rita Marques and South African winemaker Marc Kent joined forces in the Cima Corgo. The producer makes small quantities of white and red wines from old vines, alongside Douro table wines, Port and Natural Mystic Vinho Verde. Sustainable and often biodynamic farming, ancient low-yielding vines and hand harvesting keep the range focused on old-vine fruit.

Invincible Red Number Two 2021 brings six Douro varieties together in one field blend: Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca and Rufete, from vines over 50 years old. After 16 months in used French-oak barrels, it shows juicy dark fruit, a plush and succulent palate, refreshing acidity, fine-grained tannins, pepper and forest-floor notes, with a persistent finish.

Known for

Small-quantity old-vine white and red wines from the Douro, alongside Port and Natural Mystic Vinho Verde.

Notable facts

The story

From Cellar Work To Invencível

Marc Kent began working in Rita Marques's cellar in 2017, several years before the two winemakers created their own producer. Their collaboration continued through the following years, bringing Kent's South African experience into a project rooted in Marques's Douro training and international winemaking background. In 2020, they launched Companhia de Vinhos Invencível as a joint venture in Casais do Douro. Kent described the new venture as a personal investment motivated by his attachment to the Douro. The producer then began making small quantities of white and red wines from old vines, with Douro table wines, Port and Natural Mystic Vinho Verde extending the range.

From the atlas

Companhia de Vinhos Invencível lda

At A Glance

Companhia de Vinhos Invencível is a Douro producer launched in Casais do Douro in 2020 by Portuguese winemaker Rita Marques and South African winemaker Marc Kent. Based in Cima Corgo, it makes small quantities of white and red wines from old vines, alongside Douro table wines, Port and Natural Mystic Vinho Verde. The most fully documented bottle is Invincible Red Number Two 2021, a six-grape field blend from vines more than 50 years old.

The Producer

Invencível began when Rita Marques and Marc Kent turned a working relationship into a joint venture. Marques studied at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and under Denis Dubourdieu, then gained winemaking experience in France, California, New Zealand and South Africa. Kent brings his work as managing partner and technical director of Boekenhoutskloof in Franschhoek. Their shared project is rooted in the Douro, but the partnership crosses two winemaking backgrounds.

The wines are made in small quantities from old vines. That scale keeps the range focused on the material of the vineyards, with a red field blend providing the clearest view of how several traditional Douro varieties can work together in one bottle.

Place

The winery is based in Cima Corgo, the Douro's central area, with the stated address in Casais do Douro on the EN 222 in Erverdosa do Douro. Cima Corgo places Invencível inside the Douro landscape, while Douro names the regional origin of its table wines. Casais do Douro identifies the producer's base; it does not turn every bottle into a single-village wine.

That distinction matters for Invincible Red Number Two. The wine is a Douro red built from a mixed-vineyard field blend, so the grape list and old-vine source tell more about its composition than a single-variety label would.

Soil And Site

The physical picture is deliberately narrow: Cima Corgo, ancient low-yielding vines and hand harvesting. Old vines give the producer a source for small-volume wines, while hand picking allows the grapes to arrive as selected harvest material. The site story therefore reaches the glass through the age and mixture of the vines, not through an unsupported soil claim.

Marc Kent links old Douro field blends to tannins from varieties harvested at different levels of ripeness. Less ripe grapes contribute more tannin, while the different varieties bring different tannin profiles. In Número Dois, that mixed source supports a finish that is both firm and persistent.

Story

Marc Kent began working in Rita Marques's cellar in 2017. The collaboration continued, and in 2020 the pair launched Companhia de Vinhos Invencível in Casais do Douro. The change was practical: shared cellar work became a named producer with its own small-quantity white and red wines from old vines, plus a wider range reaching into Douro table wines, Port and Vinho Verde.

The partnership gives the estate a clear human shape. Marques brings Douro education and international cellar experience; Kent brings a South African winemaking career and a stated attachment to the Douro. Their first years together moved from working in one cellar to building a producer around old-vine material and regional wines.

Vineyards And Cellar

Invencível describes its viticulture as sustainable and often biodynamic, with ancient low-yielding vines harvested by hand. The wording points to a farming approach, not to certified organic or certified biodynamic status. Low yields limit the quantity available, while hand harvesting keeps selection close to the vineyard.

For Invincible Red Number Two 2021, the cellar detail is specific: the wine spent 16 months in used French-oak barrels. Used barrels provide the ageing vessel without evidence of a dominant new-oak flavour, leaving the tasting profile centred on dark fruit, acidity, tannin, pepper and forest-floor character.

Wines

The range has several doors. Douro table wines form the regional core, Port extends the producer into the Douro's fortified tradition, and Natural Mystic adds a Vinho Verde to the address. The producer also makes small quantities of white and red wines from old vines, although the supplied material does not establish detailed blends or cellar methods for every bottle.

Invincible Red Number Two 2021 is the most detailed example. It is a field blend of Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca and Rufete from vines more than 50 years old. Six varieties share one wine, giving it a plush, succulent palate, juicy dark fruit, fine-grained tannins, refreshing acidity, pepper and forest-floor notes, followed by a persistent finish. Its 16 months in used French oak add time in barrel without replacing the fruit and tannin profile with oak flavour.

In The Glass

Número Dois opens with juicy dark fruit, then brings pepper and an earthy forest-floor note as the wine develops in the glass. The six-grape field blend supplies several kinds of tannin because the varieties can reach different levels of ripeness in the old Douro vineyard.

On the palate, the wine is plush and succulent at first, with refreshing acidity carrying the dark fruit through the middle. Fine-grained tannins then become firmer and more noticeable, giving the wine a dry, persistent shape. Pepper and forest floor return on the finish, which stays present after the swallow instead of falling away quickly.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Invincible Red Number Two 2021. It gathers the producer's clearest known choices into one Douro red: six traditional varieties grown together in old vines more than 50 years old, hand harvested, then aged for 16 months in used French-oak barrels. In the glass, it combines juicy dark fruit with a plush palate, refreshing acidity, fine-grained tannins, pepper and forest-floor notes.

The bottle works as a first taste because its blend reveals the Douro through several grapes at once, while its firm, persistent finish makes the field-blend tannin idea tangible. It is a single wine with enough detail to connect vineyard age, grape mixture and cellar time.

Anecdote

In 2017, Marc Kent began working in Rita Marques's cellar in the Douro. The two winemakers continued working together over the following years, bringing Kent's South African background into a partnership with Marques's Douro training and international cellar experience. In 2020, they launched Companhia de Vinhos Invencível as a joint venture in Casais do Douro. Kent described starting Invencível as a personal investment motivated by his attachment to the Douro. The new producer made small quantities of white and red wines from old vines, with Douro table wines, Port and Natural Mystic Vinho Verde in the wider range.

Final Word

Invencível is a young Douro producer with a clearly defined base, two winemakers and a range built around old-vine material. Número Dois gives the most complete taste of that approach: mixed grapes, varied tannins, dark fruit, fresh acidity and a persistent, peppered finish.

Sources

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