The Algarve has excellent conditions for producing fruit driven wines in a modern style. Cooling on-shore breezes moderate the heat of the southern sun while the poor limestone soils limit water, providing an ideal environment for maturing high quality wine grapes. Advice from our consultant viticulturalists, and , helped us select the grape varieties, the rootstocks and vineyard management system, enabling us to optimise the quality potential from each vineyard. Quinta do Moinho Quinta do Moinho Sir Cliff Richard's vineyard was planted in 1997 and 1998 having had detailed studies carried out by the eminent Australian viticulturalist Dr. Richard Smart. The plantings consist of 3.5 Ha of Syrah or Shiraz, a native of the Rhône valley in France; 2.5 Ha of Aragonês, indigenous to the Iberian peninsula and known as Tempranillo in Spain; 1.4 Ha of Trincadeira, native to southern Portugal; and 0.5 Ha of Mourvèdre again from southern France. Moinho was established using modern viticultural principles including canopy management, a vertical shoot positioning training system and drip irrigation. The vines quickly established themselves and the result is a thriving and healthy vineyard. Quinta do Miradouro Established in early 2001 along much the same lines as Quinta do Moinho. The vineyard consists of 5 Ha Syrah; 4 Ha Aragonês; and 1 Ha of Alicante Bouschet, a Teinturier (red fleshed) grape from the south of France which can produce very fine wines in the right conditions, most notably at Mouchão in the Alentejo. Miradouro is also the first vineyard in the region to experiment with Dr. Richard Smart’s innovative seven wire Smart-Dyson trellis system which vertically divides the vine canopy making for a vastly increased total leaf surface area and improves the light conditions in the fruiting zone. Vale do Sobreiro Established in February 2004 along the same lines as the above two vineyards, Sobreiro is our latest vineyard. It consists of 3 Ha of Syrah. For the first time the variety was clonally selected to produce the highest quality fruit from its environment. The remaining 2 Ha are planted with our first white variety, Verdelho, an indigenous Portuguese variety that is being vinified with great success in Australia. Most of our vineyard operations are done by hand. We manage the vineyards in a sustainable manner using only the mildest agricultural products in a programme designed to prevent the onset of any vineyard diseases rather than a more aggressive curative approach. At harvest we pick and process all our fruit gently by hand. This is fully consistent with our policy to produce only the highest quality wines.