"Some days I wonder whether I work in a hotel or whether I live inside a green dream. Honestly, I have no idea — and that is precisely what brings me back every single day, heart full."
Before the guests
open their eyes, I am already there
My day begins before any bell rings, before the first ray of sun leans over Quinta de Sanguinhedo. I wake to the shy light that filters through the vines and wanders across the hills of Amarante — that golden light that exists nowhere else in the world. A light that smells of humus, damp wood, and the promise of new wine.
As the hotel slowly stirs, I walk through the still-silent corridors and pause by reception, where the wine cellar already glows behind its glass frame like an altar. I always stop for a few seconds. I cannot help myself. There is something almost sacred in seeing those bottles lined up, each with its own story, each born a few metres from that very ground.
At 8 o'clock sharp, the restaurant opens for breakfast and I step through the door, my coat still cold from the morning air. There is Sofia — as always, already ahead of me — with that smile that cannot be learned or rehearsed. It is the kind of smile that disarms anyone, and the guests are no exception: some arrive at the table silent and closed off, and leave sharing their whole life story. Sofia has that gift. I always say she warms the restaurant before the coffee machines even switch on.
Her touch is simple yet impossible to fake: she greets every guest by name — yes, by name — and already has a personal suggestion ready. "Good morning, Mr. Van der Berg, we have a local goat's cheese today that I think you'll love." Or to her: "Good morning, Mevrouw, I've saved you the little corner with the best light — I know you like it." People are left speechless. Some guests come back just because of her.
I linger for a moment, watching. It is not supervision — it is affection. I love seeing the instant when guests step out of their rooms with that drowsy look and stumble upon the view: the vineyards stretching to the horizon, the emerald-green terraces, the northern Portuguese sky that can never quite decide between blue and grey. And then they look at Sofia, and finally relax. It is one of my favourite parts of the day.
Getting to know each person
as if they were the only one
My role as Guest & Experience Relations is not simply about solving problems — though that also happens, and with pleasure. My real work begins when I manage to understand, in just a few minutes of conversation, what each guest truly needs. There are those who arrive exhausted from a hectic life and simply want to be left in peace. There are the curious ones, the wine lovers, the couples celebrating anniversaries in knowing silence, the families discovering Portugal.
This morning, for example, we have a couple from Amsterdam celebrating ten years together. Before they even get up, I already know that their room — one of our Charming Rooms in the west wing — looks out over the Vinhão vineyard, the one that at dusk turns the colour of dark ink and light at the same time. I also know that she prefers sparkling wine and he gravitates towards fuller-bodied whites, and that he asked for "something special for dinner" at check-in. That is an open door. I walk through it carefully, with genuine enthusiasm, without overdoing it.
True hospitality cannot be taught from a manual. It is learned the moment you look someone in the eyes and ask — genuinely, without an agenda — how they are doing.
— Liliana Coelho, Guest & Experience RelationsAt 10 o'clock, I join the first group of the day for the vineyard visit. Our Wine Tourism team share the secrets of Vinho Verde, the singularity of the Minho terroir, and the difference between a harvest of full sun and one wrapped in mist. I listen as though it were the first time. And in a way, it always is — because every group responds differently. There is always someone who stares at the vines with tears in their eyes and cannot quite explain why. I understand them completely.
Thirty hectares of green dissolving into the horizon, between hills and mist.
Humus, oak bark, Alvarinho blossom — a fragrance that exists only here.
The wind through the leaves and a silence so complete it feels like a texture.
The mineral freshness of a Quinta da Lixa white on the palate — pure terroir.
Chef Carlos Silva
tells stories through food
Lunch at Restaurante Monverde is an event that still moves me — and I have eaten here more times than I can count. Chef Carlos Silva has a rare gift: he takes an ingredient that is completely local, completely simple, and transforms it into something that makes you feel as though you have never tasted it before.
The fish on the table was caught early that morning. The vegetables come from local producers. The bread carries the honest texture of Minho cornmeal. And the wine — it has to be from Quinta da Lixa, of course — arrives perfectly, at the right temperature, paired by our team to each dish as though they were old friends reuniting.
Today I join the Dutch couple. She tries the sparkling and closes her eyes. He picks up the Loureiro, tilts it against the light from the window, studies the colour. These moments — this encounter between a person and a wine they have never tasted, in this light, in this place — are the reason I do what I do.
🍽️ The Tasting Menu
For guests who wish to dive deep into the gastronomy of the Minho, the tasting menu with Quinta da Lixa wine pairings is a sensory journey that Chef Carlos Silva crafts with meticulous care. Book ahead — places fill quickly.
Where time
decides to stop
By mid-afternoon, the hotel shifts into a different rhythm. The guests who have discovered the Spa — our Wine Experience Spa — surrender to it willingly. There is something about vine-inspired treatments, the polyphenols of the grape, the comforting warmth of basalt stones, that sends people out with a lightness they did not arrive with.
I am not part of the spa team, but I love walking past the corridor that leads there and feeling the temperature change, the air grow warmer, the sounds of the outside world disappear. It is like stepping through to the other side of a curtain. On this side, the world continues. On the other, the world can wait.
While the guests unwind, I am putting the finishing touches on the surprise for the Dutch couple: petals in their Charming Room, a bottle of the sparkling wine she loved at lunch, a handwritten note. It is not the extra they asked for — it is the extra I know they will carry with them forever.
The golden hour
among the vines
If there is one tradition at Monverde that fills me with pride, it is the Sparkling on the Terrace. At five o'clock, when Amarante's light tilts and paints the vineyards gold, the team sets the terrace and guests gather with glasses in hand for what is, quite possibly, the most beautiful toast of any journey.
There are no speeches. No protocol. There is cold sparkling wine, there is the view, there is the warm evening breeze carrying the scent of ripening grapes. There are conversations that begin between strangers and sometimes never quite end.
I am always there — not because I have to be, but because I cannot stay away. This moment captures Monverde better than any other: the generosity of a region that shares its very best, served with genuine Portuguese hospitality.
When the hotel
takes a deep breath
Dinner begins and I do my final rounds. I check that everything is in order, that no one needs anything, that the memories being made tonight have the right stage. The restaurant is full, the glasses catch the light, conversations blend into a warm murmur.
I pass by the Dutch couple's Charming Room — the note has been delivered, the petals are in place, the sparkling wine waits in ice. A message comes through on the hotel WhatsApp from her: "Thank you. We will never forget this." I put down the phone and stand still for a moment in the corridor.
This is what it is for. It is always for this.
When I leave, sometime around ten at night, the vines are dark but the northern sky is full of stars — that kind of sky that only exists far from cities, where silence is not an absence but a presence. I pull my coat closed, breathe in deeply, and I am already thinking about tomorrow.
Because tomorrow, new people will arrive. New stories. New moments that it falls to me to help build. And Monverde will be here — as it always has been, surrounded by its vines, held by the hills of Amarante, waiting for those who need to be reminded that life, at its heart, tastes of Vinho Verde and open horizons.
Come and feel what words
cannot quite describe
Monverde Wine Experience Hotel is set at Quinta de Sanguinhedo, in Amarante — 45 minutes from Porto, in the heart of the Vinho Verde Wine Route.
