Adega Cooperativa de Favaios - Premium Weingut in Trás-os-Montes, Portugal

The Adega Cooperativa de Favaios winery is located in Favaios, one of the most important municipalities in Portugal's Trás-os-Montes wine region. Located in the north-eastern corner of Portugal, the Trás-os-Montes region has a wide range of altitudes, which in turn produce a wide variety of different wines. The vineyards in the higher altitudes produce light wines, while the lower altitudes produce full-bodied and full-bodied wines.
It is not for nothing that Favaois is also known as the "Moscatel capital" of Portugal - Moscatel grapes thrive particularly successfully on this plateau. The history of the place goes back to the Roman times - the name Favaois comes from "Flavius", a Roman settlement in the region.
Since 1952, the Favaios Cooperativa winery, one of Portugal's largest and best-known producers, has made a name for itself for the unmistakable quality of its Aperitivo Moscatel de Favaios. While the cooperative initially only had around 100 members, today, over a century later, it has more than 500 members.
When Portugal's "Casa de Douro" introduced its new evaluation system in the 1930s, a difficult time began for Moscatel de Favaios. The new regulations allowed the addition of brandy, which is necessary in the production of Oporto wine and Moscatel, from now on only for wines from vines grown at altitudes below 500 metres. Since the region of Favaios is located on a plateau 630 m above sea level, the farmers were denied the right to produce their already famous Moscatel de Favaios after the new law was passed. This thus plunged the region into a massive economic and social crisis. With the co-operative movement that emerged in Portugal in the 1950s, Favaois wine growers saw this as an opportunity for self-realisation and guidance and to fight for their interests: the production of Moscatel de Favaios - this was the birth of the Adega Cooperativa de Favaios.