By 2026, Standing Fox had moved into another phase.
For years, much of our attention had been directed outward: bringing fragmented land back together, rebuilding terraces and roads, restoring water systems, regenerating soils, tending the forest and planting new vines, olive trees and indigenous Portuguese trees.
Now we are beginning to address the historic heart of Quinta da Raposeira itself.
In 2026, we appointed Portuguese architect Carlos Castanheira to design a new winery on the site of the ruins where the principal houses of the old Quinta once stood.
Castanheira brings considerable experience in winery architecture and in working with buildings and landscapes that already carry a history. His winery projects include Quinta da Faísca in the Douro and Taboadella in the Dão. That combination of contemporary architecture, wine and respect for place is particularly relevant to what we are trying to create here.
The project is already under way. Carlos and his team have begun developing proposals, and we are now working through the first designs together.
This challenge feels familiar.
We do not want to erase the ruins and place an unrelated building on top of them. Nor are we interested in recreating an imaginary past. The new winery has to work for the future while still feeling as though it belongs to this particular landscape and to the history of Quinta da Raposeira.
Function matters just as much as architecture. The winery must support the way we want to make wine: with precision, patience and close attention to each lot, while allowing the building itself to work with the contours and conditions of the site.
What is beginning to emerge is not simply a new building, but another layer in the history of the Quinta.
The ruins remain part of the story.
The landscape remains the constant.
And the new winery is being designed to belong to both.
This chapter is still being drawn.
