Murças

Cima-Corgo
Douro Valley, Portugal

Murças is a gem: a small estate emerging from more than 20,000 growers along the heart of the Douro River, the most important wine river and legacy growing region in Portugal. The wines from Murças embody intentionality – and a passion for vineyard sites that offer elegance and freshness to complement the powerful flavors created by Douro’s famous soils.

Like many wineries in Douro, the location and history of the property are completely intertwined. The estate house and winery are next to the river, conveniently neighboring the charming Covelinhas rail station, which still connects people and wine to the broader region after nearly two centuries of service. The estate was first mentioned in local records in 1714, named for the home village – Murças – of its first owner, a nobleman. Later, the winery building served as a shipping warehouse, joining the bustling wine export business of the region. The estate changed hands several times until 1943, when it was purchased by the Azevedo family, who initiated an intense recuperation of the neglected vineyards, and created a radical new vertical planting system still in use today. The Esporão Company purchased Murças in 2008 and have continued the estate’s legacy.

Winemaking Overview

Murças is uniquely capable of producing quintessential Douro red blends which avoid the heavy, rustic “sameness” of others in the region. The signature Murças style achieves freshness, intensity but with moderate alcohol, and a silky texture that communicates the Douro soils. The estate grows classic local varieties such as Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Cao, and Tinta Barroca, plus small amounts of Tinta Amarela and Tinta Francisca. Winemaking here begins in the vineyard but is elevated in the traditional Douro winery structure: a long, low building with wooden ceiling and outer doors that receive grapes directly into the granite lagars, or wide troughs used for foot-treading the grapes. The wines are fermented spontaneously with ambient yeast and fermented and aged in a variety of traditional vessels, including the lagar, concrete tulips, large-format used oak, and even old pipas, or traditional cigar-shaped oak casks.

Agriculture & Sustainability

Douro agriculture is unique in all of Europe, thanks to the dramatic slopes and high-low variability that create distinct microclimates, even within a single vineyard. The Murças estate is famous in the region for pioneering the use of vertical training in the steepest plots; some of these original vertical plantings from 1947 still used today and require the sophisticated local growers’ expertise—not all vineyard workers understand the complexities of tending vines at extreme slopes where no machinery can be used. The rest of the vineyards are planted to the traditional Douro terrace system. The vineyards cover 48 hectares total, and the Murças team have identified 8 distinct soil types within these vineyards.

At Murças, the environment itself provides a boost to the winery’s sustainability initiatives. Vineyards occupy only one-third of the estate’s property; the rest is natural forest. Within the vineyards, there are cover crops left to grow, which is essential to preventing erosion and promoting biodiversity. The vineyards have been certified organic since 2021.

Wines

The wines from Murças show the height of elegance and freshness that can be achieved in this storied region. Each bottling also reflects a literal unique facet of the mountain, and tasting through them is like a tour of the winding vineyards themselves.

Minas shows off the cooling effects of the vineyard water springs (known as minas) and is fresh and lively, with no oak—a transparent example of purely Douro fruit.

Margem comes from vineyards closest to the river, along the “margins” and it reflects the vintage. Reserva is made in the lagar and aged in used oak barrels, showing off the nuances of the estate’s two oldest vineyards, which range in elevation and soil composition.

VV 1947 is a bottled link to the winery’s midcentury origins, from the oldest vineyards with the deepest literal and figurative roots thanks to their vertical planting; “VV” is a nod to the famed Murças “Vertical Vineyard” technique.

Visit

Tasting room visits and winery stays at Murças can be booked directly here.