São João

Caves São João was founded in 1920 by brothers José, Manuel, and Albano Costa. It is the oldest family-run wine company still active in the municipality of Anadia. Originally, it marketed fine Douro wines and liqueurs. In the 1930s, the company began marketing Bairrada table wines and producing traditional-method sparkling wines, with French enologist Gaston Mennesson playing an important role during the 1930s in launching sparkling wine production. It also began exporting wines to Brazil and Portuguese African colonies. In the early 1970s, it acquired Quinta do Poço do Lobo and fully replanted it with selected, parceled grape varieties. Its wines include Quinta do Poço do Lobo - Bairrada red produced from Baga, Moreto, and Castelão grapes, the varietal Quinta do Poço do Lobo - Cabernet Sauvignon, a white wine made from Arinto, and the Espumante Quinta do Poço do Lobo sparkling wine from Arinto and Chardonnay.