The history of Casa Ferreirinha is inextricably linked to an extraordinary woman: Dona Antônia Adelaide Ferreira. She was born in 1811 in Régua, the gateway to the vineyards of the Douro Valley. Despite her small stature and reserved nature, Dona Antônia was charismatic, visionary, and entrepreneurial. She created new vineyard extensions, increased and improved the company's stocks of old wines, and contributed to improving the arduous lives of local farming families by founding schools, nurseries, and hospitals. Such was the affection of the population that they affectionately called her "Ferreirinha". Upon her death in 1896, she left behind a remarkable Douro heritage and an immensely successful business.
Casa Ferreirinha's major investment in unfortified wines would emerge about half a century later. Producing elegant, high-quality Douro wines, with the refinement and high aging potential of Vintage Port wines, became the dream of Fernando Nicolau de Almeida, who began working at the company early on, eventually rising to technical director. He selected the best grapes from the Upper Douro, full of richness and structure, and combined them with others from high altitudes, chosen for their acidity and aroma.
Thus was born, in 1952, Barca-Velha, an iconic wine that has since been produced only in the best years, considered one of Portugal's most long-lived, elegant, and complex red wines. The genesis of Casa Ferreirinha is, therefore, a true lesson in oenology, which determined the evolution of the wines of this house, enriched by the planting of Quinta da Leda from scratch, begun in 1979, where the grapes that allowed for increased and improved production are grown. Today, the Casa Ferreirinha line, produced under the guidance of winemaker Luís Sottomayor, ranges from youthful wines like Esteva or Planalto, through richer wines like Papa Figos, Vinha Grande, and Callabriga, to the exceptional Quinta da Leda, Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, and Reserva Especial, with Barca-Velha occupying the top of the hierarchy.
