Portuguese Winery Malápio Wins Sustainable Development Honor at 2026 Luso-French Trophies

Adega Centenária Malápio, a winery in Portugal’s Bairrada region, has received an honorable award in the Sustainable Development category at the 2026 Luso-French Trophies, a business awards program organized by the Portuguese-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry, known by its Portuguese initials CCILF.

The award was presented on Oct. 13 during the chamber’s gala evening at SUD Lisboa in Lisbon, according to information released by the company. The distinction recognizes Malápio’s work around low-intervention wine production and its effort to link environmental practices with the recovery of older local methods of winemaking.

Malápio operates in Aguada de Baixo, in the municipality of Águeda, and has built its identity around the use of century-old clay vessels for fermentation. The winery says it produces natural wines in the Bairrada region without chemical additives and without the use of highly interventionist technology, placing its business model within a broader sustainability strategy that includes circular practices and the conservation of the local ecosystem.

The project was founded by Romeu Martins, who says the winery was created in part to honor the memory and craft of his grandfather, Aristides, a potter from the region. That family connection is central to the company’s public message. Malápio says its vineyard covers about one hectare and follows an older mixed-planting model in which several native grape varieties grow together, a style it describes as medieval in origin. The grapes are harvested by hand and fermented in clay pots sealed with beeswax and pine resin.

In a statement, Martins said the award reflects a view of sustainability that looks not only to new technologies but also to practices inherited from the past. He said the winery’s approach includes preserving the original adobe walls of its cellar, working with the clay-rich soil of the area and maintaining minimal intervention during vinification. He framed that model as a response to environmental pressures and to the broader challenge of climate change.

The Luso-French Trophies are in their 32nd edition this year. The awards are designed to recognize business activity and economic ties between Portugal and France. According to the information released about the event, the Sustainable Development category focuses on projects that reduce environmental impact, promote biodiversity and generate lasting socioeconomic benefits in the communities where they operate.

For Malápio, the award also brings attention to a type of wine production that remains uncommon in Bairrada. The region is better known internationally for sparkling wines and for reds made from the Baga grape, but smaller producers have increasingly drawn interest by emphasizing traditional methods, local grape varieties and lower-intervention farming and cellar work. Malápio is positioning itself within that movement, while placing particular emphasis on clay-pot fermentation and on the historical continuity of the site and its materials.

The company also says it has expanded beyond wine production into wine tourism, offering 31 visitor experiences in Bairrada that are built around contact with the landscape and integration with the surrounding environment. That part of the business is presented by the winery as another extension of its sustainability model, combining agricultural activity, local heritage and rural tourism at a time when small producers across Portugal are looking for added sources of revenue and stronger direct ties with consumers.

The award comes as sustainability claims in the wine sector face closer scrutiny from buyers, tourism operators and industry groups. In that context, distinctions such as the one granted by CCILF can carry marketing value, but they also place producers under pressure to show that environmental commitments extend beyond branding. In Malápio’s case, the company’s public argument rests on its vineyard practices, its use of traditional clay fermentation vessels, the preservation of its historic cellar and the small scale of its production in Águeda.