AGUARDENTE DA SERRA DE MONCHIQUE
Rui Oliveira
ALDOBREIRA
966 117 387
37°21’51.32”N 8°39’10.75”W
Rui Oliveira, one of the youngest aguardente producers in the region, is the owner of a distillery in Aldobreira, a well-kept secret of a place for outsiders. In order to get there you have to know all the tight and sinuous paths that cross over the many serras the region is made of – paths somewhere between land and the slopes hidden by lush,perfumed vegetation. But Rui knows the territory like the back of his hand. His mother used to live there and before her his grandmother too.
The distillery is on a very old site that was passed on from one generation to the other and that Rui wishes to preserve. Some years ago, he remodeled the whole cellar to be able to legally sell his aguardente. Before this the floor and walls were made of earth and the still made of wood. “You spent the whole day flattening clay with your feet”, says the distiller. Nowadays not only is the floor firm but there is space for the comfort of a small couch. Even the lanterns recall a time gone by, a darker more sullen time. But it wasn’t only for legal reasons that Rui had everything fixed. He confesses that it was also because he likes the “distilling” ritual, the conviviality with his friends at the time of the distillery process and he feels proud of carrying on in his grandfather’s footsteps.
