Quinta do Tamariz

The story

A home at Quinta do Tamariz

In 1939, Quinta do Tamariz was purchased and became the residence of D. Lúcia Vinagre. Her wine work at the family estates had already entered a major phase in 1926, when SAQSM was created to manage Quinta do Tamariz and Quinta de Santa Maria. The purchase brought her to the Carreira estate in Barcelos, where the family’s vineyard property and home were joined in one place. Quinta do Tamariz later underwent a large vineyard restructuring beginning in 1981, but the 1939 purchase remains a separate moment in its history: the estate became D. Lúcia Vinagre’s residence.

From the atlas

Quinta do Tamariz

At A Glance

Quinta do Tamariz is an independent winegrower in Carreira, Barcelos, making wine in Portugal’s Vinho Verde region. Four generations of family experience sit behind a 35-hectare vineyard holding, and the range moves from still wine to sparkling Pet Nat and brandy aged in Limousin oak. The useful starting point is the 2022 Alvarinho Reserva: one grape, one still-wine bottle, and a direct view of the estate’s Alvarinho work.

The Producer

Quinta do Tamariz links its modern history to banker António Borges in the late nineteenth century, while the estate’s important wine-development phase began under D. Lúcia Borges Vinagre in 1926. In that same year, SAQSM—Sociedade Agrícola da Quinta de Santa Maria, SA—was created to manage Quinta do Tamariz and Quinta de Santa Maria. The result is an estate whose bottles sit within a long-running family property rather than a label assembled from anonymous fruit.

Place

The estate is in Carreira, Barcelos, with family land in S. Miguel da Carreira. Those place names matter most on a bottle marked Vinho Verde: they locate the producer inside the region while the 2022 Alvarinho Reserva narrows the focus further to a wine made entirely from Alvarinho. Rather than asking one regional name to explain every bottle, Tamariz separates its still Alvarinho from Loureiro and Touriga Nacional Pet Nat wines.

Soil And Site

No named soil, slope or exposure is attached to the supplied estate material, so Quinta do Tamariz’s ground should not be dressed up with borrowed Vinho Verde scenery. The firm site fact is its 35 hectares of vineyards around Carreira and Barcelos. That scale supports an estate-fruit approach, tying the fruit behind the Alvarinho Reserva and the Pet Nat wines to a defined holding rather than an unspecified regional blend.

Story

The estate’s story has several distinct turns. António Borges anchors the late-nineteenth-century legacy; D. Lúcia Borges Vinagre then led a major phase of wine development from 1926. Quinta do Tamariz was purchased in 1939 and became her residence, joining domestic life and vineyard property at the same address. The wine consequence is continuity across a family estate whose present range still includes still wine, sparkling wine and aged brandy.

A large vineyard restructuring began in 1981. That work followed an earlier land-reparcelling effort that helped make the property an early Vinho Verde bottling site. Reorganising vineyard land is not decorative history: it is the practical groundwork for bottling estate wine under its own name, and it frames Tamariz’s move from a traditional still-wine offer into single-grape Alvarinho and bottle-fermented sparkling wines.

Vineyards And Cellar

Estate fruit is central to the Tamariz range, with 35 hectares providing the material for wines that take different routes in the cellar. The 2022 Alvarinho Reserva is made exclusively from Alvarinho, so its fruit, fermentation and ageing belong to one grape rather than a blended recipe. That single-variety structure makes it a useful still-wine expression alongside the estate’s sparkling releases.

The Pet Nat wines demand a different decision: the moment of bottling matters because fermentation continues in the bottle and creates mousse. Sofia Lobo has described this judgement as particularly important for Touriga Nacional Pet Nat. Tamariz also makes wine brandy aged in Limousin oak, where wood ageing adds an oak-led element of texture and finish that has no equivalent in the fresh, sparkling wines.

Wines

The range is built in three forms. Still wine includes the 2022 Alvarinho Reserva, a Vinho Verde made entirely from Alvarinho. Its role is structural: one grape in a still wine, without the mousse of a sparkling bottle or the oak ageing used for brandy.

Sparkling wine brings white Loureiro Pet Nat, rosé Pet Nat and Pet Nat made from Touriga Nacional into the picture. These are not simply fizzy versions of the still range: bottle fermentation makes mousse part of their body and texture, while Loureiro and Touriga Nacional keep grape character in view. The white Loureiro Pet Nat is documented at 13% alcohol for the 2021 vintage; that number should stay with that bottle and vintage alone.

Wine brandy completes the range. Limousin-oak ageing shifts the conversation from grape and bubbles to wood, weight and finish. Together, the three styles show an estate working with still wine, sparkling wine and spirit rather than repeating one formula under several labels.

In The Glass

The first distinction in the glass is between still texture, mousse and oak-aged weight. Alvarinho Reserva 2022 places Alvarinho at the centre of the aroma and palate because the wine is made from that grape alone; its finish should be read as a still-wine finish, not through the bubble-driven texture of Pet Nat. The bottle’s single-grape composition is the firmest guide supplied for tasting it.

With the Pet Nats, mousse changes the first feel of the palate because fermentation continues in bottle. White Loureiro Pet Nat and rosé Pet Nat should therefore be tasted as sparkling wines before assumptions are made about shared fruit, citrus, floral notes or tannin. The Touriga Nacional Pet Nat adds a red-grape route into that sparkling texture. In the brandy, Limousin oak shifts aroma, body and finish toward the effect of wood ageing.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Quinta do Tamariz Alvarinho Reserva 2022. It is a Vinho Verde made exclusively from Alvarinho, so it isolates one grape in the estate’s still-wine range before the added mousse of Pet Nat or the oak ageing of brandy enters the picture. On the palate, look first for the wine’s still texture, acidity and finish; its one-grape composition makes those structural details easier to separate from the bottle-fermented sparkle found elsewhere in the range.

Anecdote

In 1939, Quinta do Tamariz was purchased and became the residence of D. Lúcia Vinagre. She had already overseen a major phase of wine development from 1926, when SAQSM was created to manage Quinta do Tamariz and Quinta de Santa Maria. The purchase placed her at the Carreira estate that carried the family’s vineyard work, rather than leaving the property as a distant holding. The house and vineyard became part of the same daily setting in Barcelos. Tamariz’s later history includes the vineyard restructuring begun in 1981, but the 1939 event remains a distinct moment: the estate became D. Lúcia Vinagre’s home.

Final Word

Quinta do Tamariz is worth knowing for the contrast inside one Carreira estate: an all-Alvarinho still wine, Loureiro and Touriga Nacional Pet Nat with mousse, and brandy shaped by Limousin oak. Begin with the 2022 Alvarinho Reserva, then move to the Pet Nats when the bottle-fermented texture is what you want to explore.

Sources

• https://quintadotamariz.com/pages/about-us
• https://vineyards.com/quinta-do-tamariz
• https://www.portuguesevinhos.uk/product/quinta-do-tamariz-alvarinho-reserva/
• https://quintadotamariz.com/products/alvarinho-reserva-2022
• https://www.the-buyer.net/tasting/wine/viniportugal-best-new-wines-portugal