Created in 1999 by winemakers Celso Pereira and Jorge Alves, Quanta Terra acquired an old Casa do Douro distillery, in Favaios, in order to build a wine cellar, but the building, which opened in 2022, ended up being transformed into a multicultural space, where winemakers promote exhibitions, concerts, let the wines age and do wine tastings.

“We tried, and doing this in the Interior is not easy, reconciling art and wine”, Celso Pereira told the Lusa agency. Now, said the winemaker, the company wants to build a new winery from scratch on nearby land, with the project already approved and a planned investment of around 200 thousand euros.

“However, we will continue to prioritise the work of grape selection, the work that we have been doing for over 25 years with the same farmers”, he highlighted. Quanta Terra does not have its own vineyard and works with 25 producers from the Favaios plateau and the Tua Valley.

The exhibition “Técnica Ancestral”, on the cultural platform ‘Underdogs’, has opened, with 12 paintings, one of which is signed by Alexandre Farto (Vhils), the Portuguese painter and graffiti artist who is known for his “Faces” carved into walls.

The work that will be highlighted is also a face but carved into a “wall” made with an overlap of posters. After Joana Vasconcelos, protagonist in the inauguration of the space, the new exhibition also features works by Pedrita Studio, PichiAvo, Raquel Belli, and Vasco Maio. The pieces will be spread throughout the old distillery where you can still see and enter the cement vats where the wine was received.

“Like wine production, the artistic manifestation of human beings has also been present since the beginning of their existence. In this exhibition, we selected works and artists that reference the past, both in technique and in the content of the works. They revisit these references and contextualise it in today's world”, said Underdogs Gallery, curator of the exhibition, in a statement. On the same day, the conference “Wine and Culture: Strategies for Enhancing the Interior” is held.


“We are experiencing huge constraints in the Douro, we have a lack of labour, production costs are high, the market is contracting and we need to change this imbalance that exists in the country, between the Interior and the Coast. We intend to draw attention to the reality that is happening in the Douro”, highlighted Celso Pereira.

Regarding the work with Douro winegrowers, Celso Pereira highlighted the “very close relationship”, sharing “that means we can build and launch high-quality and innovative products onto the market”. The winemaker gave the example of the launch, in the last five years, of a rosé wine made with the Pinot Noir grape variety planted on the plateau or a white wine aged in barrels for six years.

“We have always been innovating, preserving our identity”, he stressed, announcing for this year the launch of two “special” vintages, a 2007 white, which was in barrel until bottling in 2024, and sparkling wine from the Pinot Noir variety. Our average annual production is around 60 to 70 thousand bottles and exports represent 35% of the company's business, with sales to the United States, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore.