A house that measures time in harvests.
Quinta da Cancela sits in São Lourenço de Sande, on the hills just outside Guimarães in northern Portugal. The original 1720 manor still stands at its centre — restored in 2007, quietly inhabited, and worked by the same family for six generations.
Three centuries, briefly.
Built
The manor house is built in São Lourenço de Sande, on the hills outside Guimarães. It passes down the same family from this point on.
Restored
The 1720 manor is restored with modern comforts while respecting its rural Minho character — opening as a guesthouse so the estate can sustain itself for the next generation.
Tended
Six generations on, the family still farms the 2.5-hectare vineyard sustainably — no herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers — and produces the HEMJ range of red, rosé and sparkling wines.
Granite below, Atlantic above.
We farm 2.5 hectares of vineyard within walking distance of the cellar. Sustainable in practice — no herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers — and vegan in vinification. We plant only red grape varieties, so every wine that leaves the cellar (red, rosé or sparkling) starts in the same soil.