At all wine fairs and tastings, I have a limited amount of time to taste before my palate gets blown and the alcohol starts to affect me (even when I spit!). This time was no exception, but I do find that when I’ve spent hours tasting and am feeling the effects, and a wine stands out, jump-starts my taste buds, it signals to me the wine is exceptional. This is what happened when I tried the wines of Quinta dos Sentidos, a winery I now believe deserves to be the first and last to taste!
The charismatic man who poured the wine for me was open and friendly, which, at these events, I have found is not always the case. It turns out that this charismatic, refreshing, intelligent young man pouring me the wine was the winemaker, André Palma! Upon seeing my and my colleagues’ interest after our first taste, he went through the lineup and explained each wine. Each wine was better than the last.
My colleague, Alice, with whom I was at this tasting, ended up working with André this past year, and I had the great pleasure of a thorough, beautifully explained tasting, followed by a tour of the cellar with my friend and André.
André is incredibly generous with his time and his passion, explaining the processes, inspirations, and his secret experiments. After this amazing experience, I bought two cases of wine, and decided I needed to learn more about André.
After sitting down together to learn about his life trajectory, my enduring thought is that André is a very lucky man, due to the unique opportunities he’s had, but that’s only if you think of luck as I do: 95% preparation and 5% being in the right place at the right time.
Not shy of doing the work, seeking new learning opportunities, going above and beyond, traversing down paths less traveled, and following his dreams, the sum of all André’s parts amounts to an extraordinary human and, in my opinion, one that deserves all the praise and accolades he receives.
Born and raised here in Faro, he has returned after nearly 15 years away to stay. Lucky us!
André began his studies at the University of Algarve and earned a bachelor’s degree in Engenharia Alimentar (food engineering). After completing his degree, André was unsure what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, this was also around the time the financial crisis hit Portugal, and there wasn’t much work available.
Using this time to his advantage, he dove into more learning and took a course to become a certified teacher and studied to get a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certification, which is a globally recognized validation that a food business effectively implements, controlling biological, chemical, and physical hazards from farm to fork.
During this time, André also submitted an application for a competition offering a Eurail Pass through Portugal to the winner. The competition was celebrating the Republic’s 100th anniversary, and he won! This trip brought him for the first time ever to the Douro (among other places). But there, in the Douro, he found the spark to pursue a career in the wine industry.
André’s determination to be a part of the wine industry then brought him to Lisbon for three years to attend ISA (Instituto Superior de Agronomia) and earn a master’s in oenology and viticulture under the tutelage of many Portuguese mentors who were and still are stars of the wine world.
After finishing his degree, André wanted to work on a small project for his first foray into the industry. This project, his first of many, was at Secret Spot Wines in the Alto Douro. This project ended up being right next door to the winery where he first ever stomped grapes, Quinta da Faísca, during that Eurail trip he had won several years before. Kismet?
From the Açores and Alentejo to the Douro and Vinho Verde, across the frontier to Andalucia, France, then north to Austria, over to Chile, and out west to California, André has worked at some of the world’s best wine estates. Each experience was completely different from the last, requiring him to learn different skill sets at each place.
André worked with wine producers who focused on low-intervention, organic and biodynamic principles in winemaking and viticulture in the Rhône Valley (France), and later with a large industrial winery producing millions upon millions of liters every year in Chile. André’s positions have ranged from harvest intern, cellar hand, assistant winemaker, lab technician, manager, co-op creator and visionary, adega reception manager, to Quinta dos Sentidos Estate Manager.
Having had his eyes set on coming home for a few years, André applied when he saw the posting for a position at Quinta dos Sentidos. Not surprisingly, he got the job. Having just spent a year on the island of Santa Maria in the Açores, creating a co-operative business and adega for the community, called the Santa Maria Wine Lab, he was ready to make another jump. With the success of the co-operative’s launch and a baby on the way, the desire to return home grew, and the chance to be with family and work locally would be a blessing in more ways than one.
In June 2023, André joined the team at Quinta dos Sentidos, for the reasons already mentioned, and because “I loved the project, the vibe, and the owners.”
At first, he worked alongside their consultant, Alain Bramaz, and gradually took over as the resident winemaker. André now wears many hats at QdS, not just winemaking. His quest for learning, travel, and experience, along with multiple types of positions, has equipped him with an arsenal of strategic tools that have helped propel QdS into the elite category of fine wine in Portugal, earning awards for several of their labels and ranking them at the top of the list of fine wines in the Algarve.
The story of Quinta dos Sentidos starts with a dynamic couple, Charlotte Toubro and Beat Buchmann, a Swiss-Danish couple who moved to Portugal after retiring from their successful corporate careers. On a trip to the Algarve in 2005, they first discovered their dream plot. Since the first day they took control, the land has undergone a remarkable transformation.
With four hectares of vines, over 350 species of plants and botanicals, nearly every type of subtropical fruit tree, and 650 olive trees, including the varieties Galega, Picual, Cobrançosa, and Maçanilha Algarvia, the land has undergone a complete revitalization.
This gorgeous, innovative wine estate is located near the Arade River in Silves, atop a rocky hill, with red Silves sandstone, clay, and limestone soils. All this with a picturesque view of Monchique in the foreground, this stunning nine-hectare property is definitely worth a visit.
About the wine
The vines that were chosen for planting on the estate are Touriga Nacional, Aragonez (Tempranillo), Tinta Caiada, and Syrah, and the whites include Arinto, Antão Vaz, and the rare Swiss grape Petite Arvine (which is exquisite!).
Every year, these grapes undergo rigorous manual selection and sorting to ensure the excellence and quality of their wines. First, during the growing season, the team practices green harvesting before veraison (when the grapes change colour) – a process that involves removing clusters from the vine. Then this process happens again, during harvest.
All the fruit picked is hand-sorted before vinification, with up to 10% of the berries removed. These quality-enhancing techniques limit annual production to 12,000-14,000 bottles, depending on the vintage, thereby balancing quality and creating demand.
Just in case you didn’t know, with four hectares of vines planted and the relatively young age of these vines, it’s possible for QdS to legitimately produce nearly 20,000 bottles every year. Green harvesting and manual selection reduce their production and potential income considerably, but by ensuring the quality of each grape, the wine in the bottle ends up concentrated, elegant, precise, and sells out nearly every year!
After joining Quinta dos Sentidos, André focused on learning the ropes and the winemaking style from their consultant/winemaker. The next step, on top of all his winemaking responsibilities, was to attend international wine fairs to present their wines and attend local wine fairs in the Algarve to build local brand recognition.
The following year, the focus was on increasing their distribution in more international markets and, even more importantly, throughout Portugal.
Today, Quinta dos Sentidos stands at the top of the list here in the Algarve for elegant, quality-driven wines, as it should.
During our time together, I asked which wine he would recommend right now. And he said it was a very hard question to answer, because it depends on so many factors. But when I pressed, he said, overall, their Tato (or Touch) Tinto, Vinho Regional Algarve 2022, is the perfect red to hunker down with during these cold, blustery nights.
My personal favorite wines of theirs are: their premium Quinta dos Sentidos Tinto 2018, the flagship of the Quinta, a yummy, sophisticated wine that will knock your socks off, produced only in exceptional years; and their late-harvest SENTIDOS Essência Tinto, divine and perfect with chocolate!
Please take a moment to check out their website (qds.pt) and make an appointment to do a tour and tasting. If your tour was as delightful as mine was, I’d also recommend joining their members’ club; they offer phenomenal perks for loyal fans!
You can also find their wines at Wines & Co online (winesandco.eu) and in their shops.
