Quinta da Pellada is the Dão estate of Álvaro de Castro, a civil engineer by training who inherited the property at Pinhanços, Seia, in 1980, made his first wine in 1989 and was joined in 2001 by his oenologist daughter Maria Castro; the family farms the Quintas da Pellada, Saes and Outeiro near Vila Nova de Tazém in the Serra da Estrela sub-region, on granite soils at 450–600 metres, and the estate’s first documented reference dates from 1527. Systembolaget added six of its wines to the order range in December 2025 through Vinhantverk Sverige AB, from Quinta de Saes Branco 2023 at SEK 246 to Primus 2023 at SEK 570.
The estate’s own history page records that 80 pipes of wine were paid in royal tax from the Quinta da Pellada in 1527. Álvaro de Castro, an engineer, took the property on in 1980 and re-established a family winemaking tradition that had skipped a generation, releasing his first wine from the 1989 harvest with the oenologist Magalhães Coelho; his daughter Maria Castro, trained in oenology, formally joined in 2001, and since 2005 the estate has worked with Bairrada winemaker Ataíde Semedo and more recently Tiago Félix. The vineyards, hidden behind walls among pines and broom, lie between 450 and 600 metres on granitic soils, and the family describes an increasingly natural style intended to let each parcel show through.
Sweden is the estate’s documented Nordic outlet. Between 16 and 30 December 2025 Systembolaget listed six Quinta da Pellada and Quinta de Saes wines in its order range through Vinhantverk Sverige AB, an importer that specialises in small artisan producers: Primus 2023 at SEK 570, the Quinta de Saes Encruzado 2023 and Estágio Prolongado 2021 at SEK 320, the Quinta de Saes Branco 2023 at SEK 246 and the two Tobias wines at SEK 260. Order-range listings are ordered by stores and restaurants on demand rather than stocked nationally, which suits low-volume, high-price estate wines.
Álvaro Castro is one of the reference names of the modern Dão, and the appearance of six of his wines in the Swedish monopoly in a single month shows how the Nordic on-trade and specialist importers are now reaching past the large Portuguese groups to individual growers. For the corridor it is a reminder that Portugal’s wine exports to Sweden — SEK 258 million in 2025 by Statistics Sweden’s count — increasingly travel in small, high-value consignments rather than tanker loads.
All six Systembolaget lines remained listed in September 2026; the estate’s Swedish presence dates only from December 2025.
Fractio helps Portuguese companies navigate Nordic market entry, regulatory requirements, partnership development and Nordic market dynamics.
Talk to Fractio →