Good friends, good wines, good times.

It began by chance. It continued because it made sense.

Palato do Côa was not born in a boardroom: it was born in a conversation, with wine on the table. In 2007, Carloto Magalhães took on the challenge of harvesting the estate grapes and making the first wine. The result drew together a group of friends bound by the Douro, high-altitude vineyards and the will to build something of their own.

The first years had no winery and no electricity. The wine was made and kept at Quinta da Canameira, the neighbouring cellar — a house lent through kinship, not through walls. In Muxagata there was a shed, and not just any shed: it was the grilled-chicken shed. A table set up, mismatched chairs, and that was where the future was debated. The estate winery came only in 2012, and it was blessed.

And there is one variety that appears on no label at all. The Palatinhas — Lilian, Luísa, Migalha, Susana, Teresinha and Xana. They never attend the meetings, join the dinners without ceremony, and know exactly when a bottle should, or should not, be opened. They rule in silence.

Today there are six partners, two winemakers and a production the vineyard itself limits — normally between one hundred and one hundred and thirty thousand bottles a year. The project keeps this scale by choice.