Wine & Soul is located in the heart of the Douro Valley, Portugal’s best-known wine region, and spans several picturesque vineyards. The winery was founded nearly 10 years ago by Jorge Serôdio Borges and his wife Sandra Tavares da Silva. Initially, Wine & Soul consisted of a lone vineyard, Pintas, located in Portugal’s prized Pinhão Valley, however, over the years it has expanded its holdings and now has access to 80-year-old vines which are tucked into terraces carved out by dynamite more than a century ago.

Natural farming is prioritised, and no chemical fertilisers, pesticides, or herbicides are used. Irrigation is minimal and performed only by hand, and indigenous yeasts are used for almost all fermentation. Due to the steep grade of the slopes and the narrow width of the terraces, all grapes must be picked by hand. The fruit is foot-trodden in granite lagares, which yields fine, silky tannins since the process is so gentle on the grapes. The wines are all aged in French barriques.

Jorge and Sandra have a long history in winemaking with Jorge previously working as an oenologist at Niepoort and now in joint ownership of Quinta do Passadouro with the Bohrmann family. Sandra has the recognition of being the first female winemaker in the Douro alongside her other projects at Quinta do Vale D. Maria in the Douro and at her family’s estate of Chocapalha in Estremadura.