For more than 250 years, Ferreira has been synonymous with high-quality Portuguese wine, and known around the world as “the Portuguese brand.” Ferreira was founded in 1751, and under the direction of Dona Antónia Adelaide became the reference point for exceptional ports and Douro wines. Today, Ferreira continues to be a global market leader, and the symbol of a country and a culture.
By acquiring the prestigiouis A.A. Ferreira company in December 1987, Sogrape not only strengthened its portfolio with Douro's most prestigious wine brands, but also added a valuable historical and cultural heritage that it was able to respect and preserve whilst ensuring the company could innovate and modernise.
Casa Ferreirinha and its wines are synonymous with quality, time and art. Thus it has been since the company’s founding in the eighteenth century by Bernardo Ferreira, whose formula was refined by his descendants, especially his granddaughter Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, known affectionately as "Ferreirinha" or "Ferreirinha-da-Régua".
Under Dona Antónia, who was twice widowed, finding herself in charge of a large company, she consolidated admirably. Her entrepreneurial spirit taught her to predict, decide, create, teach and love, making her a hugely prominent, charismatic figure.
With the death of Dona Antonia, the business became a limited company and began a new stage of adapting to market developments, while remaining rooted in the quality obtained through the unique heritage of its Douro estates, supported by the best œnological methods, to produce excellent wines under one strong brand.
These values carried Casa Ferreirinha all the way to the present day and were crucial to creating and continuing this brand’s great wines as well as constituting a unique heritage and an unparalleled historical archive.
Thorough knowledge of the Douro Superior, the features of its climate and soil and carefully selecting the varieties to be used also came to be crucial to the company's strategy. This strategy, backed by 250 years of experience in the Douro Region, in 1978 led Casa Ferreirinha to acquire Quinta da Leda, located at Almendra, Vila Nova de Foz Coa, with its very modern winery which was to be completed by Sogrape Vinhos in 2001.
The grapes of these vineyards, of a quality surpassing the most optimistic expectations, processed using the expertise of a team led by winemaker Luís Sottomayor, provided the basis for Casa Ferreirinha's premium wines, including the renowned Barca Velha and Reserva Especial, and also Quinta da Leda and Callabriga.
This solid framework has allowed Casa Ferreirinha to extend its portfolio to various market segments. Vinha Grande and Esteva, two benchmarks in their own categories, are also marketed under the brand's auspices
Emirates Airlines now has more to offer its first class passengers: Casa Ferreirinha 2007 Reserva Especial (recently launched) has just been added to the wine list of this prestigious airline. Only a few elite wines, recognised throughout the world, make it onto this wine list. This list has now been further enriched by the addition of the iconic Douro red wine, Reserva Especial, created by Fernando Nicolau de Almeida in 1960. Luís Sottomayor, the current chief oenologist at Casa Ferreirinha, has used the 2007 vintage to honour, not only the heritage of this great brand, but also to raise the profile and to add prestige to Portuguese winemaking.