Without land or wineries, through mountains and valleys in search of the best grapes in each of Portugal's wine regions.

We seek out the most dedicated of growers and the greatest love for the grapes. We learn from them and together we combine our modern know-how, technology and design. It is these characteristics of the Portuguese that represent the character of our wines.

Casca Wines is a project of winemakers and wine experts who decided to create a high quality Portuguese wine brand. A project that only works with the best grapes and tries to renew the unique culture of Portugal in the creation of wines.

It all started in the micro-region of Colares. In the Sintra hills, the westernmost point of continental Europe, where great wine producers have been challenged by the Atlantic winds for over 900 years. Hélder Cunha decided to produce truly unique wines, uniting history with quality.

Hélder Cunha

He thought he was going to be a doctor, but life wanted him to follow agro-industrial engineering and oenology would become part of his days. It has been 20 years now.

Today, looking back, he would not trade his course for any other.

What could be better than touring the country from end to end in search of the best grape growers, the best grapes, and the best terroirs?

And to be able to combine the rusticity of the land with the modernity of winemaking? This is Hélder Cunha's project.

It was during a harvest in the USA, in 2000, at Kent Rasmussen Winery, in Napa Valley - California, that the idea of creating Casca Wines began to take shape: to make excellent wine even without owning land or wineries.

CEO, Founder and Winemaker

He worked with Rui Reboredo Madeira and with Anselmo Mendes managed Borges' winemaking for 5 harvests - which earned him the Grand d'Or medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles - until he decided to take the plunge.

In 2008 he created Casca Wines with a goal:

Producing high quality wines in Portugal and making them known to the world.

The first step was taken in Colares, where for over 900 years the vines have defied the Atlantic winds and where Hélder Cunha combines history and modernity. But this was just the starting point, because the will to do more and better led him to want to travel the country.

This is what he has been doing ever since, in order to get to know closely every piece of land where he produces wine and to know in detail how each producer works, always recognizing him as someone who knows his land like no one else.

Today, Hélder Cunha is still a guest judge at the International Wine Challenge and has more than 50 references, ranging from Minho to Alentejo, passing through Lisbon, Douro, Bairrada, Dão, Beira Interior, Tejo, and Setúbal.

It is in this context that sustainability is part of the guiding line of his work, and some of the winemaker's natural wines come from the organic vineyards of Beira Interior.

"Hélder Cunha's goal will always be to seek the best of the best and make wines that stay in our memory forever and for the best reasons..."