OOP. AGRÍCOLA SANTO ISIDRO DE PEGÕES

Beer Became Wine
It all started when the landlord and beer magnate José Rovisco Pais donated his Pegões properties to the Lisbon State Hospitals. On these properties the Government implemented a large “colonization” project, donating land to thousands of agricultural workers and directing the plantation of 2900 acres of vineyards. These workers became known as “Colonos”.
The Cooperative was estabilished on March the 7th, 1958 in order to give technical and logistic support to the “colonos”. Part of the support consisted of the receiving and processing of their grapes. The first Pegões wines where then born.
At the beginning, the Cooperative received financial and technical support from the State. As a consequence of the Portuguese revolution of 1974, the Cooperative was taken over and a period of instability followed. This process was later reversed and over the last fifteen years the Cooperative followed a systematic strategy of modernization and financial consolidation with the main objective to continuously improving the quality and value of the wines.
During this period, the Cooperative spent about seven million Euros to buy new vinification and cold stabilization equipment and several containers controlled fermentation. Other equipment purchased included pneumatic and vacuum presses, a modern bottle filling, labelling and packaging line, effluent treatment facilities, cellars for wine aging for more than 1.000 barrels, improvements to the buildings and access roads, etc.
Advanced computing systems were installed for administrative and process control purposes. The Cooperative is certified in accordance with NP EN ISO 9001:2000 and HACCP.

What Makes The Difference?
The Pegões Terroir! It is located between two Nature Reserves – the Tagus estuary to the Northwest and the Sado on the Southwest, on the east side of the Arrabida hills and on the west side of the Alentejo´s province clays. The Pegões region is unique in climate and soil conditions.
The climate is Mediterraneam and the soil, named “Pliocenico de Pegões”, is a sandy soil formed over millions of years by sand transported by the rivers Tagus and Sado. It is this climate / soil combination that gives birth to the unique Pegões wines.

What Are We Nowadays
Nowadays, Pegões is a modern and competitive winery recognised both in the domestic and international markets. Pegões wines have been distinguished with several awards at the most important international wine contests.
With a vineyards area of 2.200 acres and an average annual grape production of about seven thousands tons, 74% red and 26% white. The red varities are: Castelão (Periquita) 94% and Touriga Nacional, Aragonês and Cabernet Sauvignon amongst others. As for the whites, the majority are Fernão Pires 40% and Muscat 25%, Tamarez, Arinto, Antão Vaz, and Chardonnay making up the remaining 35%.
The winery produces a wide variety of wines – Regional, Selected Harvest and Vintage wines, as well as specialities like Muscat, Eau de Vie and Sparkling wines.