Portugal · Douro

Wine & Soul

A Douro house built around Pintas, a 1.5-hectare old-vine field blend of roughly 40 varieties, with reds, whites and Port shaped by hand work on steep terraces.

The producer

Wine & Soul was founded in 2001 by Sandra Tavares da Silva and Jorge Serôdio Borges in Vale de Mendiz, near Pinhão. Their starting point was Pintas: a small, southwest-facing vineyard of deeply rooted old vines planted as a mixed field blend. Its steep, narrow terraces require hand harvesting, allowing fruit to be examined before it reaches the converted old Port lodge that serves as the winery.

The range moves from tannin-bearing Douro reds to Guru, a field-blend white with oak-derived texture, and Manoella 10 Year Extra Dry Branco Port, whose decade in cask brings dried-fruit and nutty notes. In the reds, fruit selection, foot-treading in lagares and fermentations held at no more than 24°C aim for ripe fruit, body and dry grip without leafy tannin on the finish.

Known for

Old-vine Douro field blends, hand-harvested terrace fruit and wines spanning red, white and Port.

Notable facts

The story

Why Pintas Has Its Name

When Sandra Tavares da Silva and Jorge Serôdio Borges began Wine & Soul in 2001, their first vineyard was Pintas: 1.5 hectares of old vines, with roughly 40 grape varieties growing together as a field blend. The couple named the wine after their restless English Pointer, Pintas. The vineyard itself was a small and demanding beginning, set on a southwest-facing Douro site where steep terraces make harvest a manual job. Rather than choosing a name from a grape or a map, they put their dog’s name on the bottle made from that original mixed-planted vineyard. Pintas remained the name of the wine tied to their first site.

From the atlas

Wine & Soul

At A Glance

Wine & Soul began in the Douro in 2001, when Sandra Tavares da Silva and Jorge Serôdio Borges bought Pintas, a 1.5-hectare old-vine vineyard. Its roughly 40 varieties grow together as a field blend, so the founding red is built from a mixed harvest rather than a recipe of separate grapes.

The range now moves between dry reds, whites and Port. Steep terraces demand hand harvesting, while cool fermentations and selection in the cellar aim to keep ripe fruit clear and tannin free of green edges.

The Producer

Sandra Tavares da Silva and Jorge Serôdio Borges founded Wine & Soul after bringing different Douro experience to the same project: Jorge had worked as an oenologist at Niepoort, while Sandra had worked at Quinta do Vale D. Maria and her family's Chocapalha estate. Sandra is recognised as the Douro's first female winemaker. Their first site, Pintas, remains the thread through the house: old vines, mixed planting and a red wine shaped by one small vineyard.

Place

The winery is in Vale de Mendiz, a few kilometres from Pinhão, in a converted old Port lodge. This is Douro country where vineyards are broken into terraces rather than broad, level blocks, making the movement from vine to cellar a manual one and keeping the estate's wines close to individual sites.

Soil And Site

Pintas is a southwest-facing old-vine vineyard with deeply rooted plants. The exposure was sought for ripening, while the old roots were valued for balance; together they provide the fruit basis for a red field blend rather than a wine defined by one named variety.

Its terraces are steep and narrow, so grapes must be picked by hand. That physical limit matters at harvest: bunches can be examined before they reach the winery, allowing Wine & Soul to separate fruit it does not want in the final wine.

Story

Wine & Soul started with the intention of making wine together, beginning from Pintas rather than from a large inherited holding. The first vineyard's 1.5 hectares gave Sandra and Jorge an immediate constraint: a very small crop from old, mixed-planted vines. The result was a house whose central red could be tied to one field blend from the beginning.

In 2009, they took over Quinta da Manoella, a historic estate dating to 1838. That brought another estate into the work and widened the range beyond the original Pintas bottling, while keeping the same Douro focus across table wines and Port.

Vineyards And Cellar

At harvest, Sandra and Jorge inspect the fruit and may reject about 20 percent. With hand-picked grapes coming from narrow terraces, that selection is a direct way to protect ripe fruit before fermentation and reduce the risk of coarse, green tannin in the reds.

Wine & Soul also uses foot-treading in lagares, the open stone vats associated with Douro winemaking. Fermentations have been kept at no more than 24°C to avoid green tannins; the cellar work therefore aims for colour, fruit and grip without pushing the skins into a hard finish.

Wines

Pintas is the old-vine red reference: a field blend of roughly 40 varieties from the estate's first vineyard. Its role in the range is structural as much as aromatic, bringing mixed fruit, tannin and weight from one small site rather than a single-grape expression.

Pintas Character 2023 offers another red view of the house, with documented vinification and élevage behind a fruit-led, tannin-bearing Douro style. Guru 2024 takes the field-blend idea into white wine and includes oak treatment, giving citrus and fruit a broader texture rather than a simple light-bodied profile.

Manoella 10 Year Extra Dry Branco Port completes the range's move into fortified wine. Ten years in cask shape a white Port with dried-fruit and nutty development, while its extra-dry designation keeps sweetness in check against the wine's weight and length.

In The Glass

Across the reds, expect ripe fruit first, then a firm Douro frame of tannin and body. The old-vine field blend at Pintas gathers several grapes into one palate, so dark fruit and spice can sit alongside savoury notes; careful selection and controlled fermentation aim to leave the finish dry and free of leafy harshness.

Guru brings the white side into view: field-blend fruit and oak treatment suggest citrus and orchard fruit carried by more texture and weight than a stainless-steel-only white. The ten-year white Port shifts toward dried fruit, nuts and cask-aged depth, with sweetness balanced by an extra-dry finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Pintas Character 2023. It is a red that leads back to the estate's original old-vine project while showing the house's current cellar work. Look for ripe fruit, spice, dry tannin and a full-bodied palate; the temperature-controlled fermentation is intended to keep the grip clean rather than green. It is the most direct route into Wine & Soul's combination of mixed Douro fruit, hand harvest and careful extraction.

Anecdote

When Sandra Tavares da Silva and Jorge Serôdio Borges began Wine & Soul, Pintas was their first vineyard: 1.5 hectares of old vines planted with roughly 40 varieties. They named the wine Pintas after their restless English Pointer. The name attached the dog to a vineyard that was already unlike a conventional single-variety parcel, with mixed vines growing together on a southwest-facing Douro site. Pintas became the name used for the wine made from that original vineyard, carrying the dog's name from the founders' first site onto the bottle.

Final Word

Wine & Soul makes most sense through Pintas: a small, old-vine Douro field blend picked by hand from steep terraces. From there, the reds, oak-touched white and cask-aged white Port show how Sandra and Jorge have extended the same site-conscious approach across a broader range.

Sources

Open Wine & Soul in the interactive map →