Portugal’s best-known wines might come from the north, but some of its most exciting bottles are made further south in Alentejo. Known for its rolling hills, whitewashed villages, and endless cork forests, Alentejo is also home to a growing number of forward-thinking producers. One of them is Pedro Ribeiro of Herdade do Rocim.

I caught up with Ribeiro when he was in New York recently. I’ve been a big fan of his amphora-aged red wine since discovering it nearly a decade ago (pairing it with Sesame-Crusted Tuna), so I was glad to finally meet the man behind the wine and taste through a lineup of his reds and whites. Though best known for bold reds, Alentejo is gaining attention for fresh, mineral-driven whites from cooler subzones like Vidigueira.

Family Ties

Ribeiro and his wife, Catarina Vieira, bought the Rocim estate in 2000. Even though he didn’t come from a winemaking family (his roots are in the cork industry), he knew early on that he wanted to work with the land. “Wine made sense because it combines agriculture with creativity,” says Ribeiro. “I grew up in Porto, a city kid, but somehow I knew this was the right path.”

The couple started by restoring old vineyards and planting new ones. By 2007, the winery was up and running. Today, they split the responsibilities: Vieira handles viticulture, bottling, and logistics, while Ribeiro takes care of winemaking and sales.

Grapes Well-Suited for the Climate

Their estate is located in the subregion of Vidigueira, which offers a unique advantage in a region often dismissed for being too hot. “Alentejo is mostly flat and clay-based, but here we have granite soils and elevation,” Ribeiro explains. “The Atlantic winds come across the plains and get blocked by the hills, which gives us cooler mornings and more humidity, especially during harvest. You often see mist in August and September. It might be 86°F here and 100°F just 15 miles away.”

Herdade do Rocim’s wines reflect local grape varieties. For whites, this includes Antão Vaz, Viosinho, and Fernão Pires; for reds, these are Moreto, Trincadeira, Tinta Grossa, and Alicante Bouschet. “We used to grow Syrah,” says Ribeiro, “but even if you make a good Syrah, the world doesn’t need another one.”

Most of Rocim’s vineyards were planted between 2001 and 2003, but the team also works with older parcels, some more than 75 years old, including a remarkable 94-year-old field blend vineyard still in production.

“Old vines tend to do better with climate extremes,” Ribeiro notes. “They’ve never been irrigated, and they seem to cope better with the heat spikes we’re seeing more often.”

Farming for the Future

In the face of climate change, Ribeiro is turning to older practices to adapt. “The big issue isn’t just the heat, it’s the spikes—going from 86 to 113°F in one day. That really shocks the vines,” he says. Their old, unirrigated vineyards cope best. “Back in the ’90s, everyone was told to strip leaves for more ripeness. We’re doing the opposite now, leaving more canopy to protect the grapes.”

They’ve also experimented with irrigation and found that less is more. “An irrigated cluster might weigh 110 grams,” he notes, “while a non-irrigated one just 90. But the flavor is way more concentrated in the non-irrigated.”

Reclaiming Clay Vessels

One of Rocim’s most defining projects has been the revival of amphora winemaking. The technique dates back over 2,000 years to Roman times and was still practiced in parts of Alentejo until the 20th century. Ribeiro first began experimenting with clay vessels in 2010, after a trip to the U.S. “I noticed sommeliers weren’t as interested in Bordeaux anymore,” he says. “They wanted small producers, they wanted stories. I realized we already had this 2,000-year-old tradition. We just had to tell our story better.”

Today, Herdade do Rocim produces multiple amphora wines, all of which are made without added yeast or temperature control. “It’s risky,” Ribeiro admits. “You’re living on the edge. But if you pick early and keep the acidity high, it works. We’re often the first to harvest. While everyone else is at the beach, we’re already in the vineyards.”

And sometimes, it works better than expected. During our get-together, Ribeiro told me a wild story about a wine that started as a mistake, yet became Portugal’s most expensive wine.

The €1,000 Bottle

In early 2015, Ribeiro purchased a small vineyard from an elderly woman. “It was next to our estate, so I bought it almost as a favor. I didn’t even think about what we’d do with it,” he says. Months later, a farm worker reminded him that the vineyard was producing fruit. Ribeiro told him to throw the grapes into amphorae. No sorting, no planning. Just spontaneous winemaking.

Out of that chance harvest came a wine unlike anything Ribeiro had made before. “It had precision, elegance, freshness, and was completely unique,” he says. “So, I said, 'No one touch this.’” The wine stayed in amphorae for four years, then spent another year and a half in bottles before its release. Called Jupiter, it debuted in 2021 as the most expensive wine in Portugal, priced at 1,000 euros per bottle. All 800 bottles sold out in three weeks.

Not everyone was thrilled. “Half the industry was angry,” Ribeiro recalls. “We had people saying, ‘Who do they think they are, charging that much for a Portuguese wine?’”

The criticism wasn’t really about the wine. It was about challenging perceptions. Portugal, long known for value wines, wasn’t supposed to command those kinds of prices.

“We were on the front page of the biggest paper in Portugal for five weekends in a row,” Ribeiro says, laughing. “The journalist hated us, but it helped. He gave us the best PR we could have asked for.”

Jupiter has never been replicated. Pedro and his team try every year, but the original was a fluke. 25 different varieties had been picked without any planning, and the blending was done by taste, not design. “We’ve come close,” he says. “But nothing quite like that first one.”

Blending Old and New

Herdade do Rocim’s story is one of balance: between tradition and innovation, risk and restraint, freshness and power. Whether through their amphora wines, careful site selection, or commitment to native varieties, Ribeiro and Vieira are helping their vines tell the story of Alentejo wine. And they have a lot to say.