F PATO

Filipa Pato, daughter of the revered Bairrada winemaker Luís Pato (possibly best known for his championing of the local Baga grape variety), says she has inherited her father’s passion for wine and especially for Portuguese grape varieties. She believes in the essential complementarity of tradition and innovation that is the reward of an open mind.

Although she loved the vineyards and the fermentation aromas that surrounded her as a child, she was not sure whether she wanted to be a winemaker, so she studied chemical engineering at Coimbra University. However, after internships at Ch Cantenac Brown in Bordeaux, Finca Flichman in Mendoza and Leeuwin Estate in Western Australia, Filipa returned to Portugal in 2001 to make wine in the Beiras region. One thing you pick up immediately when you talk to her is an intense curiosity and a constant thirst to exchange ideas and taste wines from around the world. Filipa summarises her approach very simply: "We make wines for drinking not for tasting".