Exploring the hidden gems of Portugal’s Dão wine region
Visiting the 18th century Misericórdia Church - Source: Winekeller
We get off the beaten track and visit Dão capital Viseu with its historic treasures, sample some of the best Dão wines in Portugal - and gastronomy - and enjoy what has to be one of the best gardens in Portugal!
What an opportunity! To be introduced to the heart of Portugal’s Dão wine region, to not only taste some amazing wines, but to explore more of Viseu, Dão’s beautiful capital - and to experience the delights of Santar Vila Jardim - a unique project where stunning gardens and vineyards have been developed, running through and uniting a single village.
If you love the combination of history, gardens and wine - as well as incredible gastronomy and hotel and spa luxury, then read on - this is for you!
Our Dão wine tour route
We would suggest taking 2 days to follow this Dão wine tour route.
We started in beautiful Viseu, where you need a few hours to explore all of the historical sights here and then proceeded to the spectacular winery Caminhos Cruzados, about 30 minutes outside of Viseu. After a great wine tasting over a just as great lunch, we continued to the nearby village of Santar. Here we stayed overnight at the excellent Valverde Santar Hotel & Spa and visited the impressive Santar village gardens - Santar Vila Jardim.
A wine tour around Portugal’s Dao wine region - Source: Winekeller
Visit Viseu - Dão’s capital
The history of Dão’s capital, Viseu, is closely connected with the history of Portugal. A city with 2500 years of history, right in the heart of Portugal, its origins date back to the 8th century.
Viseu has an exceptional heritage and there is much to see here, especially in the heart of the historic centre, but Viseu is also the Dão ‘Wine City’ - and where there are great wines, there is also great gastronomy! Viseu has also been a Garden City for over 80 years and it is brimming with green parks, formal gardens and centuries-old tree species. Fontelo Park, Aquilino Ribeiro Park and the Cava de Viriato, which was a Roman military camp in the 1st and 2nd centuries B.C., are all well worth visiting, depending on how much time you have!
Viseu is a lovely place to just wander - to enjoy the gardens and the small streets with their traditional buildings and tiled ‘azulejos’ walls and the many shops, wine bars and cafés. Explore Rua Direita and Rua Escura with their 16th century houses which retain gargoyles and gothic windows, and Quatro Esquinas (Four Corners) where one of the city gates once stood.
Viseu - a strategically important Roman city
Viseu was built initially as a hill fort and in Roman times, due to its central location, where many Roman roads met, it became a strategically important Roman city. You can still see some Roman remains in Viesu today, including remnants of a perimeter wall which was built around Viseu from the 1st century onwards.
Viseu’s historic centre
The heart of the historic city centre is at the top of the hill overlooking the city below and the dominant twin-towered, 13th century Cathedral, standing in the Adro da Sé courtyard - one of the noblest squares in Portugal and the focal point of any visit to Viseu.
The large granite, quite austere looking Cathedral dominates the square but it is flanked by the Três Escalões Palace, which houses the Grão Vasco Museum and opposite, the beautiful 18th century Misericórdia Church.
We suggest you visit all of these - the interior of the Cathedral is most impressive, with its paintings by Vasco Fernandes (Grão Vasco) a Portuguese painter from the 15th century and the beautiful dome, decorated with ropes and knots in stone. Make sure to visit the high Cathedral cloisters and the Passeio dos Cónegos - a beautiful colonnade walkway structure overlooking the square below.
The Grão Vasco Museum is a national monument from the 16th century and in addition to many beautiful paintings and sculptures, houses 24 ‘national treasures’.
See ‘VisitViseu’ for lots of ideas and for more information about Viseu and the Centre of Portugal see here
A walking app has also been recommended to us called ‘Walk Viseu’
Don’t forget to make time to taste some excellent Dão wine! A good recommendation is to visit the Solar do Dão in Viseu, the headquarters of the Regional Wine Commission, to learn more about Dão wines Portugal!
Wine tasting and lunch at Caminhos Cruzados, Dão
The ultra-modern Caminhos Cruzados winery
‘Caminhos Cruzados’ is located in Vilar Seco Viseu, in the heart of the Dão Region and is seen as a representation of the ‘new Dão’ - with its philosophy of producing quality wines, through combining history and tradition with modern, innovative grape growing and winemaking processes.
‘Caminhos Cruzados’ which means ‘crossed paths’ in Portuguese, was created in 2012 by the Santos family, based on the 42 hectare Quinta da Teixuga property, with its prime Dão vineyards surrounded by the Caramulo, Montemuro, Buçaco and Estrela mountains.
Caminhos Cruzados recently became part of the Terras e Terroir Group, an umbrella brand for wine and boutique accommodation, created in 2013 with the aim of ‘valuing Portugal’s heritage, looking after its people and lands and creating unique wine tourism experiences across the country’s different wine regions.’
The Quinta da Teixago vineyards
The vineyards here lie some 400-700 metres above sea level and their shallow schist and granite soils produce full-bodied wines with a high aging capacity. Newer vineyards away from the property were planted in 2013 but in the Quinta da Teixuga vineyards, the average age of the vines are over 50 years. The vineyards are planted with some international grape varieties, but mostly with typical Dão grape varieties including Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Jaen, Alfrocheiro, Malvasia-Fina, Encruzado and Bical.
Caminhos Cruzados winery
The winery was opened in 2017, a huge stark, concrete modern structure, the perfect symbol of modernism and innovation, standing proud in the centre of the old Dão vineyards. It certainly creates an impression when you arrive but it provides the ideal vessel for making and storing wine and welcoming visitors to enjoy these special wines and a range of Dão wine tourism experiences.
Caminhos Cruzados wines
The wines feature multiple collections; ‘Caminhos Cruzados’ - an interpretation of modern, elegant, complex Portuguese Dão wine; ‘Teixuga’ - produced from the best grapes of the Quinta da Teixuga vineyards; ‘Clandestino’ - a range of fresh, innovative wines; ‘Titular’ a range of complex, structured wines with great aging potential.
Caminhos Cruzados wine tourism
Wine tourism is core to Caminhos Cruzados (and Terras e Terroir) and they offer a broad range of vineyard tours and wine tasting experiences.
Traditional Dão gastronomy
Traditional but modern Dão wines are perfectly complemented in the kitchen at Caminho Cruzados by talented Chef Miguel Vidal who offers visitors a superb range of traditional dishes, reflecting the best gastronomy of the Dão region.
You can enjoy lunch or dinner at Caminho Cruzados in the fabulous tasting room with its open kitchen and vineyard views, or if you prefer to enjoy dining in the barrel room or outside on the balcony, these are an option too!
We enjoyed a wonderful tour of the vineyards and then a superb tasting of a range of Caminho Cruzados wines throughout our traditional lunch prepared for us and served by chef Miguel. We enjoyed a lovely mushroom, potato and chicken soup, served with a traditional Portuguese sausage called ‘alheira’, followed by some fabulous Serra da Estrela cheese and figs, wrapped in filo pastry, then slow-cooked veal, served with roast potatoes and broccoli and finally a delightful traditional custard based dessert. What a feast!
We can highly recommend a visit to Caminhos Cruzados, not just for sampling some of the finest Dão region wines, but for the whole wine tourism and ‘enogastronomic’ experience you can enjoy here - and of course, it goes without saying, the warm, welcoming hospitality.
A visit to Santar Vila Jardim - one of the best gardens in Portugal
The historic village of Santar is about 30 minutes away from Viseu in the heart of the Dão region, Portugal. Today it is known around the world for its incredible ‘Vila Jardim’ project - or ‘Garden Village’, where you can discover the history and landscapes of the village, through over 50 acres of interconnected gardens and vineyards, belonging to various aristocratic family estates.
The Santar Vila Jardim project
The village of Santar has a unique heritage, surrounded by beautiful landscapes and vineyards. Said to be older than Portugal itself and one of the most ancient urban settlements in Portugal, it is the ancestral home to several different aristocratic family estates, whose land and properties criss-cross the village. However, similar to many other remote Portuguese families, Santar had been steadily losing its population from the 1960s onwards as the younger generation followed the lure of the cities and the cost of upkeeping the noble houses and gardens was becoming insurmountable.
The Santar Vila Jardim gardens - Casa de Santar e Magalhães - Source: Winekeller
The Santar Vila Jardim project was born in 2013 when José Luís Vasconcellos e Sousa, of Casa dos Condes de Santar e Magalhães in Santar, a 16th-century estate, contacted famous landscape architect Fernando Caruncho, to ask him to landscape his terraced gardens. Fernando soon realised the uniqueness of the village and the potential to bring the various historical gardens and vineyards of the different noble houses into one single space, for people to explore and discover and to bring the village back to life.
The project came to fruition over the next 10 years and today attracts visitors from all over the world who come to appreciate the history and traditions, the gardens and also the wine!
The gardens today comprise the garden terraces of Casa de Santar e Magalhães, Casa da Magnólia, Casa dos Linhares Ibérico Nogueira Misericórdia, Casa das Fidalgas, (now housing a luxury boutique hotel, Valverde Santar Hotel & Spa - see later) and Jardim dos Linhares de Santar & Magalhães.
The gardens are made up of various plots dedicated to different flower species, including roses, camelia and poppies for example and there is a section dedicated to vegetable plots, maintained by the local villagers. A small lake breaks up the gardens, along with beautifully designed walkways, hedges and seating areas where you can rest and appreciate the views and scents.
Santar Vila Jardim vineyards and winery
Being in the centre of one of the top wine regions of Portugal, each estate houses a well-defined vineyard, most with newly planted or revived vines. In the Casa das Fidalgas estate, Caruncho planted the vines in undulating waves instead of straight rows to create a wonderful art landscape and you can appreciate this from a stunning wooden panoramic gazebo, designed specially for this purpose.
The well-drained soils here are sandy, of granite and schist origin and are planted with traditional Dão grape varieties.
See here for information about the various vineyards and grape varieties.
The Winery was originally built by D. José Pedro Paulo de Mello da Cunha de Souza e Meneses in 1911 at the end of the gardens of Casa de Santar e Magalhães. In 2020, Santar Vila Jardim Wines equipped the winery with the most modern technology, in order to ensure that carefully selected grapes in the various gardens, give rise to wines of superior quality.
Santar Vila Jardim wines
A wine project was born from the best plots of the Vila Jardim estates and the realisation of the vision of Pedro Vasconcellos e Souza, creator of Casa de Santar Wines and brother of project visionary José and co-inheritor of the Casa dos Condes de Santar e Magalhães estate.
This has resulted today in 3 Santar Vila Jardim wine collections, under the name ‘Memórias de Santar’. There is a fresh, floral white wine, made from a blend of Encruzado and Malvasia fina grape varieties, a red reserva wine, made from a blend of Touriga nacional, Alfrocheiro preto and Alicante bouschet grape varieties and a special red wine made from a blend of Touriga nacional and Merlot.
Visiting Santar Vila Jardim - Santar Village Garden
See here for opening times and arranging a visit to the gardens or one of a variety of guided tours, which we can highly recommend and offers the opportunity also for a wine tasting. The Santar village gardens are magnificent and a wonderful way to explore the history and culture of this amazing, unique village.
For more insights and background information take a read of this excellent New York Times feature article about the Santar Vila Jardim project.
Overnight stay at the Valverde Santar Hotel & Spa
The Valverde Santar Hotel & Spa, a Relais Châteaux hotel
We combined our visit to the Santar Vila Jardim gardens with an overnight stay at the wonderful luxury, boutique hotel - and Relais Châteaux hotel - Valverde Santar Hotel & Spa.
The creation of the Valverde hotel in the former Casa das Fidalgas manor house forms an important element of the Santar Vila Jardim project and was made possible by the owners of the land, the Portuguese Bragança royal family, who granted permission to turn their near-derelict property into a 21-room hotel and spa.
The property is set in an area with four hectares of vineyards and three hectares of garden, forming part of the Santar Vila Jardim and offers the guest the opportunity to ‘nourish the body and soul in a place of complete relaxation’.
We had the opportunity to enjoy a superb dinner in the ‘Memórias Restaurant’, featuring delicious dishes made from local produce, reflecting traditional gastronomy, reinvented using the most modern techniques. Each dish was presented in the most artistic way and we enjoyed a really memorable dessert of creamed rice pudding with cinnamon, based on an original, secret recipe of the Head Chef, Luís Almeida’s grandmother!
You can visit the Memórias Restaurant for lunch or dinner, without staying in the hotel.
See our video about visiting the Dao region below:
Conclusion and personal highlights
Although the weather wasn’t on our side and you can’t expect too much colour in the Winter, we loved discovering the hidden Dão wine region and the Santar Vila Jardim project was a real revelation! Portugal has so much to offer in terms of wine tourism, great, traditional gastronomy and wonderful scenery and the Dão wine region is a great example of all of these things!
