Mrs. Antonia Ferreira.

A woman who became a symbol not only of Douro entrepreneurship and viticulture, but also a greater example of altruism and generosity towards those most in need. At the age of 33, after becoming a widow, she found it necessary to assume leadership of the family businesses and develop what would become Casa Ferreira, a mission she accomplished with exceptional brilliance, which revealed an extraordinary business vocation.

Being part of the 4th generation of the Ferreira del Duero family, with an important activity in the cultivation of vineyards and the production of Port wine, Dona Antónia was heir to a great fortune, but she did not limit herself to managing it, but rather he invested, passionately and intensely, without waiting for the protection or support of the State, in the Douro region that he loved so much. A respected owner and merchant, she knew how to avoid the added difficulties of being a woman in a world where power was essentially held by men. Dona Antónia deepened the values ??of a family and traditional business culture, maintaining an openness to innovation and permanent attention to the evolution of the most recent knowledge of the wine sector, which allowed her to associate tradition with technical innovations in the cultivation of the vineyard, in the production of wines or even in the bottling system. He always opted for quality as the most important triumph for the company's reputation. This attitude of great courage was what gave him a solid reputation in the world of wines.

Ferreira is the only one of the great Port wine houses that has remained faithfully in Portuguese hands since its foundation, in 1751, by the Ferreiras of Régua (Portugal). Today, Ferreira assumes the historical legacy enriched by several generations.

The result of this strategy was the production of thousands of barrels of wine considered to be of the best quality among Portuguese and foreign buyers, fortified wines from the dozens of Douro estates and wineries subsequently stored in the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia. Here, even today, consecrated vintages such as those of 1815, 1820 or 1847 are part of an impressive winery that perpetuates the memory of Dona Antónia.

When he died, on March 26, 1896, about to turn 85, in addition to a considerable fortune, translated into dozens of farms and thousands of barrels of wine, he also left behind an invaluable example of kindness and citizenship. It was said that Ferreirinha was generous with the poor and weakest, although haughty with the richest and most powerful; and that he was just as naturally in the home of the most modest workers as he was in the Royal Palace.