JOURNAL 4# Home is where the kitchen is, even on a vineyard

If home is where the heart is, then the heart of the home is where the kitchen is – and good food and wine are never far away. 

Looking out towards our old olive trees and vines, Morgado do Quintão’s kitchen certainly holds a lot of memories and a strong sense of ‘belonging’. The same kitchen that we sat in as children with our parents, or that we returned to as adults with our own families, is now creating new memories with our community of visitors. 

But it’s time to move forward into a new time and place: For many years we have been handling all the cheese and wine tastings, alfresco experiences, and guest breakfasts, and we need an upgrade!

This poses a question though: How do we preserve that sense of place, that feeling of belonging, and stay connected to our roots, while making room for the new? We come back to this again and again, and it runs through every decision that we make at Morgado do Quintão. 

For the kitchen at least, we think we’ve found the answer – step forward the highly talented creatives that are Manuel Aires Mateus, cofounder of Aires Mateus Architects in Lisbon, and his colleague Maria Rebelo Pinto. We are so excited to be working with them to redesign this space, which is the next step in our gradual restoration of the estate as we move it into a new time and place.

Aires Mateus is the perfect partner for MdQ. Aside from the numerous national and international awards, including for the EDP headquarters in Lisbon, and a romantic restoration of an 18th Century building in Santa Clara, the firm focuses on the role of memory and knowledge, on the relationship between the physical and cultural world – something we aspire to ourselves. 

Both Manuel and Maria understand that simplicity is hard to do well. That’s true for life, for wine, and for place. But the idea is the same with each  – to create a sense of peace in an otherwise turbulent world…which is the whole essence of a kitchen anyway. 

Once it’s finished, we hope MdQ’s kitchen helps people to feel at home even more than the last one did. Like any good kitchen, it will be a place for gathering, for sharing experiences – and of course good wine. 

Filipe & MdQ team