DFJ VINHOS SA : Cathedral of Wine, The New Portugal

DFJ VINHOS was created in 1998, has 250 ha of vineyards, mostly in the Lisbon region. In 2008, ten years on from its foundation, DFJ Vinhos is proud of how far it has come: the Portuguese company holding one of the largest shares of the British market, equivalent to the export of one and a half million bottles annually. In just these few short years, the company has had a global impact in an increasingly competitive sector and now exports some 90% of its production, representing some 5.4 million bottles, the overwhelming majority targeting the medium segment with a highly competitive pricing strategy.

Eng. José Neiva Correia is the owner of the company and the chief winemaker, producing wines since 1974.

José Neiva Correia had two training ports : Gesenheim in Germany and Bordeaux in France. This allowed him to discover different methods of production, to compare them and to be inspired later to make his own wines. Today, he is still a consultant for four competing companies (50 million liters).

At all times, José Neiva Correia, a descendant of several generations of winegrowers, has followed the family tradition. However, he has never stopped doing research, inventing ways to modernize his work and improve the quality of wines, or creating solutions for winemakers from here and elsewhere. His products respond to modern issues, both from the point of view of consumers and producers.

For 35 years, he worked with the engineer Octavio Pato, one of the best Portuguese winemakers in the 60s, 70s and 80s. With this experience and his laboratory work, José Neiva Correia learned how to analyze wine, water, earth, leaves, etc., and all this has allowed him to deepen his knowledge. He is particularly distinguished thanks to a patent he has filed for a method of disinfecting corks.

Quinta da Fonte Bela-Cathedral of the Wine

Located in Vila Chã de Ourique – Cartaxo, 80 km north of the city of Lisbon, it is a unique centennial property. Most of the buildings belong to the so-called “Cast-iron architecture” used in the second half of the 19th century by the followers of Eiffel. All the facilities were designed by engineers of the atelierof Eiffel, who at the time were in Portugal to design public works, such as the Santa Justa elevator in Lisbon and the D. Luís bridge in Porto. The owner of the Quinta at the time (António Francisco Ribeiro Ferreira) took advantage of the presence of these engineers and commissioned the plans of what would become the center of his agricultural activity. The first building came to be the cellar completed in 1897. The exterior architecture is also unique in Portugal because it is characteristic of southern France and Balearic Islands that were certainly the origin of engineers.

Also known as the Cathedral of Wine, Quinta da Fonte Bela is composed of several buildings, among which we find the headquarters of the DFJ where are the offices, a vinification center, a bottling line, warehouses, a cellar with capacity for 9.3 millions of liters, cooperage, laboratory and living room. All in a total of 17,197 m ²   and a covered area of ​​8,063 m ² .

DFJ WINES received 564 awards in 2019 including 38 trophies and 197 gold medals. Since 2010 we won 3145 awards.

“The Eng. José Neiva Correia, owner and chief winemaker of the company, stated that: “We are very proud because it is an excellent recognition of the effort of our working group that every day strives to get the best price and quality in all our wines. They aren’t an end in themselves, but they are a strong recognition of our work, helping those who work with us around the world to get the message to their customers of the excellence of our work.”

Very recently, DFJ VINHOS, S.A. has been recognized and awarded Eighteen Gold Medals and Six Silver Medals by Business News Japan Wines and Spirits Awards 2020.

Awarded Gold by Business News Japan

Awarded Silver by Business News Japan

Interview of MR. LUIS GOUVEIA – Sales & Marketing Director

Question 1: Do you already export to Japan ? If yes, where ? If no, what type of importers & distributors are you looking for in Japan ?

We already export to Japan : China, Macao, HK, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea

Question 2: What is the most unique and qualitative part of your products, different from competitors ?

Our goal is to find opportunities with the importer to produce in Portugal the wines that consumers like in the destination. We try to offer wines that give pleasure and are multipurpose, either at the table, a meeting of friends or a social event. Being Portuguese we have a great concern with the quality but also with the price. The strength of our offer are wines with an excellent ratio price, quality and recognition. In 2019 alone, we won 564 prizes, being 38 trophies and 197 gold medals.

Question 3: When did you start to export your brand worldwide, and what is your development plan for the next years?

DFJ VINHOS born in 1998 with the objective to export to the United Kingdom. In the UK, two of the three original partners are importers since the 70’s. The 3rd partner was the Portuguese oenologist in which they trusted to produce the wines to the taste of the English consumer. Since 2005, the oenologist is the sole owner of the company. Today we export 99% of the volume we produce to more than 50 countries.

We plan to grow In quality, working to maintain the Certification of the Quality BRC – AA highest level.

We plan to grow our own production, today 250 ha of vineyards of which 200 are under environment sustainable practices.

We plan to increase our partnership with producers (400 ha) to get with them better grapes.

We increased recently the vats capacity to 12,5 million liter.

We want also to increase our innovation in blends and packaging.  Because of that our signature THE NEW PORTUGAL.

Thank you very much MR. LUIS GOUVEIA for your time and answer !

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