Freire Lobo

Freire Lobo is a family estate rooted in the Dão region, where winemaker Elisa Freire Lobo returned after formative internships in Bairrada and the Douro sparked her passion for wine in the late 1990s.

In 2010, she began transforming the family vineyards through organic and sustainable viticulture, focusing on soil health and biodiversity. Herbicides were eliminated, cover crops planted to enrich the granitic soils, and the family’s Bordaleiras sheep now graze and fertilise the vineyards through winter. Beehives were added in 2018 to further support the ecosystem after the 2017 wildfires.

The first vintage was produced in 2014, using only traditional Portuguese grape varieties. Elisa’s non-interventionist approach - manual harvest, foot-treading, native yeasts, co-fermentation, and concrete ageing - preserves the purity and freshness of the Dão.

Set between 560 and 600 metres in Oliveira do Hospital, the vineyards are surrounded by 4 mountains - Serra da Estrela, Colcurinho, Açor, and Caramulo. This high-altitude granite terrain, with its dramatic day–night temperature shifts, underpins the elegance, minerality, and refined balance that give Freire Lobo wines their distinctive Dão character.