Taboadella was first settled in the first century. The place had a Roman villa, with a unique quadrangle alongside the Ribeira das Fontainhas and was in its day a property of the high rural classes, consisting of a house, winery, granary and other small outbuildings. This rural community formed part of the Roman occupation plan, the strategy being to plant vineyards in occupied lands to establish a foothold and to mark their farming and cultural territory. Wine also helped to pay the salaries of the Roman soldiery as well as being an important product to export. In medieval times, historical references to Taboadella re-emerged in 1255, showing houses on the property in a cosy forest setting, with pine trees, oak, chestnut, surrounded by a garden extending to the vineyard plots. A place full of life and character, which still today has the “modus vivendi” of those distant days.
The Amorim family have been involved in wine since 1870, when they first negotiated sales of cork to the Caves de Vinho do Porto, in Vila Nova de Gaia. Today they are one of the most renowned family groups in Portugal with businesses in many countries and in many different lines of activity. Since 1999, the fourth generation of the family is now involved in wine, through the capable hands of Luisa Amorim, working in renowned Quintas where wines and vineyards have ancestral roots of cultural importance in the Douro, at Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo and now in the Dão, at the Taboadella estate, creating wines of extraordinary quality, with a sense of place.
