Casa Horácio Simões is a family winery established in 1910 by José Carvalho Simões in Quinta do Anjo, Palmela, one of the historic winemaking centers of the Peninsula of Setúbal. Continuously operating as a family winery since its inception, Casa Horácio Simões has been a pillar of the winemaking community in the Peninsula of Setúbal for more than a century and serves as a benchmark for the preservation of traditional and artisanal winemaking techniques that revere the deep viticultural traditions of the region from which the family comes. At present, three generations of this remarkable family are actively involved in the operations of the winery and the production of its wines. Horácio dos Santos Simões who was born in 1923 and is the son of the original founder of the winery, his son Horácio dos Reis Simões, and his grandsons Pedro Camacho Simões and Luís Camacho Simões are the ones working to carry on the traditions of craftsmanship and quality that were established by their predecessors. The estate is based around roughly 22 hectares (54 acres) of vineyards that are divided between the most recent plantings of vines that are about 27 to 35 years old, what the family terms the “survivor” vines that are roughly 75 years old, and the centenary vineyards around which the winery was originally based and whose vines exceed 100 years of age. This incredible heritage of old-vine vineyards speaks to the profound commitment of the Simões family to honor the traditions and history, not only of their own family, but also of the region as a whole. This is further exemplified by the indigenous and regionally-specific varietals that the family works with, which include Castelão and Rabo de Ovelha along with Moscatel de Setúbal and Moscatel Roxo.
