The Quinta
Climb the terraces.
This is the eastern edge of Baião, the threshold between the Vinho Verde and Douro DOCs. Vines climb steep south-facing terraces; forest and meadows thrum with wildlife. Our sheltered amphitheater is a living landscape. Caring for it is central to everything we do.
Water, Stone & Wind
Our granite and schist slopes rise 150 meters (nearly 500 feet) between our lowest and highest vines, making vinetending precarious work. Sunlight varies from aspect to aspect. Rain is captured and slowed as it descends the slopes; cover crops hold moisture in the soil. With the help of technology, we follow the progress of every single vine through the seasons, from the heat of day to the cooling breezes of nighttime.
Adaptation & Regeneration
When we arrived, much of the soil was depleted. Today, it is alive again. We farm without herbicides or tilling, using composts and biological soil applications to rebuild life beneath our feet. Fungi, microbes, minerals, organic matter, water, and air are all part of the hidden world below ground. Above it, beneficial insects protect our vines. Vitality comes from complexity and harmony.
The Garden
& Groves
Like many Portuguese quintas, ours has always grown more than grapes. An olive grove more than two centuries old shares the land with an abundance of fruit—pears, plums, persimmons, and pomegranates, to name just a few—alongside vegetables and herbs. Chickens forage through the vineyard, manure becomes compost, and pruned wood is mulched back into the soil. What the land gives us, we return.
The Forest
& Ecosystem
The woods that surround our vines aren’t simply left alone. We clear undergrowth to reduce fire risk, plant indigenous trees, build berms to slow and hold rainwater, and mulch pruned wood back into the land. In turn, the forest holds the hillside, shelters the vineyard, and shares in the same living system. Rather than controlling nature, we aim to partner with it, for long-term resilience across the entire estate.
The
Grapes
Our vineyards store memory and harbor ambition. Avesso, Arinto and Touriga Nacional anchor the estate, some vines dating as far back as 1931. Alongside them, plantings of Chardonnay, Syrah, Viognier, Merlot, and Nebbiolo are our new experiments. We are listening to what this land has to say through all of them. The payoff will come in the glass, through depth, structure, minerality, color, and focus.
The
Vineyard
Each block of vines stands at its own elevation and aspect, each contending with its own combination of sun and wind.
TODO — Interactive Vineyard
Stay close to the Quinta.
Estate-grown on steep granite terraces. Fermented and matured in oak, never steel. These are the wines of Standing Fox. Join the Mailing List to receive dispatches from the vineyard and notice of upcoming releases.