Portuguese wines would not have been the same without the figure of Antónia Adelaide Ferreira (1811-1896), known as Dona Antónia or A Ferreirinha. The history of the Douro Valley, one of the country's main wine regions, and his own life are inextricably linked.
António Pereira, winemaker and wine tourism manager at Maçanita Vinhos, explains that Dona Antónia had a major weight not only in the Douro, but in all of Portuguese wine and even in the history of Portugal. “It was a positive and decisive impact in the Douro, an area of Portugal affected by misery. She made the region prosperous, just as she did with the name of Portuguese wines. She worked commercial relations with many countries and achieved different achievements in the technological part ”. Pereira affirms that her great contribution to the history of Portuguese wine was the following: she "developed some high-quality wines in Douro that allowed her worldwide recognition."
Born in Régua, at the gates of the Douro Valley, daughter of José Bernardo Ferreira and Margarida Rosa de Carvalho Gil, Dona Antónia was widowed at a very young age, at 33 years of age, by her cousin on the father's side, António Bernardo Ferreria I, with whom he had three children, and had to take charge of the family business. But not only did she know how to make the company survive, but she made it prosper so much that she became a Portuguese symbol of entrepreneurship and a highly respected merchant who knew how to navigate the masculine world of wine and, in general, of business, and she did not hesitate in standing up to the machismo of the time so that nothing would stop her.
It was the fourth generation of the wealthy Ferreira family, already consolidated in the Douro area as one of the most important wineries both in the cultivation of vines and in the production of wine and Port wine, and wanted to promote the region in which was born, grew up and worked. From Casa Ferreirinha, today one of the most prominent wineries in the Douro Valley, they affirm that "although it had traditional values that respected the family business, at the same time, it maintained an openness towards innovation and permanent attention to quality and evolution of technology and science in the wine sector”.
The result of all this effort was to achieve a high-quality wine recognized inside and outside the country, awarded at various Universal Exhibitions, as well as fortified wines, which were stored in their cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia, where they are still kept today. great vintages, such as that of 1815 or 1847. "Ferreira is the only one of the great Port wine houses that has remained faithfully in Portuguese hands since it was founded in 1751 by the Ferreiras da Régua", they explain from Casa Ferreirinha.
Despite the vicissitudes of the time, he resisted and never sold his capital to foreign hands. Her success and her worth inspired her successors to create an award that since 1988 recognizes the trajectory of women who make a difference in the economic, social and cultural development of Portugal. In its last edition, the award for consecration was awarded to the former minister of culture and foreign affairs, now a cultural manager, Teresa Patrício Gouveia, and the prize for revelation to the researcher in biomaterials and biomedical science, Inês de Castro Gonçalves, who has worked on the cure of gastric cancer, specifically, to eliminate the infection caused by Helicobater pylori.
With the motto "Everyone has to do in their land what is best for the good of all humanity", Dona Antónia was also concerned about the families of her workers: "being the Douro an area that historically had suffered many hardships, he built hospitals and schools, but also nurseries for the workers and other people who lived near the company's wine estates,” says Pereira.
Their solidarity was more than welcome at a difficult time for both the country and the region, as well as after the phylloxera scourge that destroyed so many vineyards and family economies in the Douro. In fact, Ferreirinha invested in research to try to curb this vine disease that she later shared with other winemakers and, in addition, bought large volumes of land from owners who had lost their vineyards. “She never wanted to give up: she knew that the people who worked in the world of wine were going to suffer even more than the vineyards, and she put all her effort into solving the problem, even traveling to London to study possible solutions, at the same time who was trying to maintain production”, explains the oenologist.
She passed away on March 26, 1896, about to turn 85, leaving behind a great fortune, dozens of hectares, cellars and barrels, and a history as an exemplary citizen. “It was said of her that she was generous with the poor, but haughty with the rich; that she was with the same naturalness in the house of her most modest workers as in the Royal Palace ”, they affirm from Casa Ferreirinha. Her fame as a businesswoman and as a citizen has endured to this day, since by popular vote last June, a new bridge was named after her that in 2026 will connect Vila Nova de Gaia with Port.
Following in their wake, today Portuguese wine receives a boost from women like Joana Maçanita, from the Maçanita Vinhos winery, also in the Douro Valley, who highlights the following colleagues: “Leonor Freitas, from Casa Ermelinda Freita, who knew how to grow the company he inherited from his father; Sandra Tavares, head of communication for Portuguese wines in the US; and Filipa Pato, daughter of the iconic Luis Pato, who has founded her own winery with international success”.
