Wine has the superpower of bottling time. For me, it holds something even deeper. Every bottle of Quinta da Lixa carries the memories of my childhood, the footsteps of my family.
From a very young age, my answer to the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" was always clear: I wanted to be a farmer. My greatest joys were lived in the winery and out in the fields — and one of the happiest memories I hold in my heart is riding the tractor with my grandfather, breathing in the scent of the soil and learning, without even knowing it, a deep love for the vine. Growing up here meant understanding that a vineyard is not just a business; it is a mirror of our family's identity.
Today, as Quality Director and a direct member of Quinta da Lixa, I look at a wine world in constant transformation. Climate change challenges our resilience, the global market demands agility, and new trends are reinventing consumption habits. At the centre of all this change, I find myself with a responsibility that drives me every single day: how can I lead the modernisation of our techniques and standards without betraying the soul and purity of what my family has built?
Learning from Those Who Founded
Being the daughter, niece and cousin of those who built Quinta da Lixa has taught me that preserving our identity is not about standing still in time. Every decision I make is guided by a profound respect for the life's work of my family.
To honour that legacy means protecting our essence through technical excellence.
In a fiercely competitive global market, my role in quality assurance is the filter that ensures the typicity of our Vinhos Verdes remains intact. We seek absolute consistency, batch after batch, so that whoever opens a bottle feels the same truth I felt riding that tractor with my grandfather.
The Father Who Taught Me to Dare
If there is one person who shapes the way I see the future every single day, that person is my father. His entrepreneurial spirit is, to me, one of the most inspiring forces I know. He never accepted that things "cannot be done" — on the contrary, he always believed that it is precisely when the path seems impossible that it is most worth pursuing.
Growing up watching him taught me that leading with ambition is not incompatible with leading with roots. That innovating does not mean abandoning who you are. His example gave me the courage to ask hard questions, to challenge what can be improved, and to refuse to settle for good enough when excellence is within reach. It is that creative restlessness — that refusal to stand still — that I carry with me every time I walk into the winery or stroll through the vines.
Pioneers in Wine Tourism: The Monverde Wine Experience Hotel
Perhaps the most vivid expression of that pioneering spirit is the Monverde Wine Experience Hotel. When the idea of creating a wine hotel in the heart of the Vinho Verde region first emerged, there were no precedents here — it was truly uncharted territory. And that is precisely what made it so exciting.
Monverde was born from the belief that Vinho Verde deserved to be lived, not merely drunk.
The Monverde Wine Experience Hotel became the first wine hotel in the Vinho Verde region — a wine tourism project with accommodation that invites guests to fully immerse themselves in this world: the vineyards at dawn, tastings in the cellar, the Minho landscape stretching as far as the eye can see. A complete sensory experience, where wine is the thread that runs through everything.
For me, this project is so much more than a hotel. It is proof that our family does not simply produce wine — we believe deeply in the land we inhabit and want to share it with the world. Seeing guests arrive from every corner of the globe and leave with a genuine connection to Vinho Verde and the Minho is one of the greatest rewards this work gives me. And it is also a responsibility: every bottle we open here is an ambassador of our land.
Building the Future with Roots
Building the future demands the courage to innovate. Together, I feel the pride and the duty to project Quinta da Lixa towards the coming decades. That evolution is being written today through firm steps in sustainability, respect for biodiversity and the adaptation of our wines to new global palates — without ever losing our roots.
I want to continue this love story with the land. I look to the future with the certainty that innovation only makes sense when it knows how to honour our past. After all, the future of Quinta da Lixa is written with science, rigour and strategic vision — but its heart will always remain, above all else, our family.
