The oldest table wine producers in Portugal

Founded in 1834 by José Maria da Fonseca himself in the picturesque village of Vila Nogueira de Azeitão on Portugal's Setúbal Peninsula, this historic winery stands as the country's oldest producer of table wines and Setúbal Moscatel. The family business has flourished through seven generations, maintaining its founder's visionary spirit while embracing innovation.

The winery manages an impressive 650 hectares of vineyards spread across five different Portuguese wine regions, cultivating nearly 500 grape varieties. This dedication to diversity has resulted in one of the world's most extensive ampelographic collections, enabling them to create extraordinary wines, including a white wine blending an unprecedented 208 different varietals.

José Maria da Fonseca's portfolio includes more than thirty brands of premium wines, with Periquita—Portugal's oldest bottled red wine dating back to 1850—and Lancers being their most internationally recognized labels. Their offerings span red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines, alongside distinctive dessert and fortified wines, particularly their acclaimed Setúbal Moscatel.

The winery pioneered sustainability practices in Portuguese viticulture, becoming the first in the country to receive formal sustainability certification. Their environmental commitment includes preserving biodiversity, conserving natural resources, and maintaining traditional harvesting methods such as manual grape picking for certain varieties.

Visitors to the estate can tour the beautifully restored 19th-century Manor House Museum and historic cellars, including the ancient Adega da Mata (where Periquita is aged) and Adega dos Teares Novos (home to their Moscatel wines). Wine enthusiasts can experience guided tastings of their premium selections paired with regional Portuguese delicacies in atmospheric surroundings that marry heritage with hospitality.

The winery continues to blend time-honored techniques with cutting-edge technology, exemplified at their José de Sousa Rosado Fernandes facility in Alentejo, where Roman-era clay pot fermentation methods operate alongside modern winemaking equipment. This balance of tradition and innovation has established José Maria da Fonseca as a benchmark for Portuguese wines globally, contributing significantly to the international prestige of the country's winemaking legacy.

First Certified Fair'n Green Company in Portugal:

“Sustainability has been part of the DNA of José Maria da Fonseca for many decades. Being a 7-generation company, we see sustainability as the only way for the next generations of the family to have a viable company that is managed responsibly in the areas of environment, social and economic”, explains Antonio Soares Franco, the CEO of the family-owned business.“Based on our philosophy as a company it was logical for us to expand towards a holistic sustainability certification which helps us improve systematically over time. We really look forward to exchanging ideas with other members of the FAIR’N GREEN network”, he adds.

The company of Jose Maria da Fonseca has been actively involved in several noteworthy sustainability activities in the past such as working in an integrated protection system in its vineyards, wastewater recycling, environmental management, energy and water consumption reduction programs, employee training and several social projects in the community. It was also the first wine company in Portugal to receive the ISO 14001 environmental certification. Jose Maria da Fonseca covers different brands and the first volume to be included into the FAIR’N GREEN-certification is one of the flagship products of the company “Periquita Reserva”. Totaling around 1 million Liters of yearly production this wine is both sold domestically in retail, restaurants, wine bars but also exported to several countries.

“We welcome our first member in Portugal to a growing network of innovative and dynamic wine companies which not only want to wait for politics to decide what to do next, but which want instead help transforming viticulture to become more sustainable from within.”, explains Keith Ulrich, Founder and President of the Board of the FAIR’N GREEN association.“The beauty of working with all kinds of companies across several regions and countries is that we can really create new knowledge: Small companies are often highly innovative, large companies can bring innovations to scale. We believe firmly that our consulting-oriented approach will bring the best effects in the long-run. We are in it for the change in the real world, not to check questions of a list", he elaborates.