The Viúva Gomes winery, established in 1808, is located in Almoçageme, Colares which is characterized by sand dunes and sandy soils which are very present along the Sintra coastline. The winery is part of the Colares demarcated wine growing region defined in 1908. This is a father and son project, 4th and 5th generation, which has as a prime objective to maintain the traditional Colares wines but also to experiment new roads and be creative.
It is thought that wine production dates back to Roman times and later in 1230 the current Portuguese King D. Afonso III gave land to nobles on condition that they would begin cultivating vines. Another fascinating fact about the small and unique wine-growing region of Colares region is that they were one of the only regions not affected by the filoxera insect at the end of the 19th century, in around 1865. This was due to the fact that the roots of the vines were very deep, some at around 8 metres, making them resistant to filoxera. Today in much of Europe, except for the sandy areas of Colares, there is a need to use American vines which are resistant to filoxera, and then grafted with European grape varieties.
The Viúva Gomes winery has both wines made of ungrafted vines planted in sandy soils from this region (Colares DOC) as well as grafted vines planted on the typical hard soils (IGP Lisbon). They also produce normal table wines. The winery offers wine tastings as well as tours of the very old small winery.
