Why it matters
The producer
Victor Carmona e Costa bought what was essentially undeveloped Alentejo land in 1986, and his first decisions were not about wine. He built three reservoirs, ran irrigation across the estate, then planted vines three years later. The first harvest came in 1992, and the initial bottles sold under the Vidigueira brand before Pousio became the house label. Those early Pousio wines won four consecutive gold medals from the Alentejo oenophile circuit through the 1990s, then quietly lost their footing.
The turning point came in 2011, when the estate underwent a leadership transition involving Mariana Carmona e Costa and António Nora. Luís Duarte joined as consulting enologist and Nuno Elias as the resident enologist on site. The range was refocused around Pousio, with Marmelar reserved for limited production. The estate Carmona e Costa had spent six years preparing before the first vine went in the ground has been producing under this team ever since.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The estate sits in the Pedrogão parish of the Vidigueira municipality, inland Alentejo, on the flat plains and low hills that run south of Évora toward the Spanish border. Vidigueira is one of the cooler sub-zones of Alentejo, sheltered by the Serra de Portel to the north, and its position gives the wines a slightly longer growing season than the hotter zones further west.
The surrounding 1,100 hectares of cork-oak woodland and scrub are not simply backdrop: they moderate temperatures around the vineyard blocks and define the character of the landscape the Marmelar village label gestures toward. The 43 hectares under vine are a small working core within that larger expanse.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The 43 hectares hold several varieties, with Alicante Bouschet and Syrah carrying the weight of the main range. The gravity-fed design means juice and wine move between tanks, barrels, and vessels by height rather than mechanical pressure, which avoids the oxidation and physical stress that pumping can introduce at each transfer point.
Pousio Syrah spends 12 months in French oak barrels before bottling. The oak contact adds cedar and spice character and softens the grape's natural tannin without pushing the wine into a heavy extracted style. Pousio Parcela 98 is vinified as a single-variety Alicante Bouschet from carefully selected fruit, and the technical discipline of the 2019 vintage, with its precise acidity measurement at high ripeness, reflects the kind of attention to harvest timing that the 2011 team brought to the cellar.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range divides into four labels with distinct jobs. Pousio is the main tier and covers the widest ground: a fruit-forward rosé built on strawberry and raspberry character, a Syrah aged in French oak for 12 months with spice and wood integration, and Parcela 98, a single-variety Alicante Bouschet with the dense pigmentation, full body, and layered dark fruit that the teinturier grape produces in Alentejo heat. Pousio Reserva Tinto sits above the standard range, with cedar notes, pleasant dryness, and strong character.
Marmelar Tinto is the limited-edition tier, made in smaller volume with a deep ruby colour, forest fruit aromas, and a soft, full palate. Quatro Caminhos and the original Vidigueira brand round out the portfolio. The architecture moves from lighter, everyday drinking at the rosé end up through Syrah, Parcela 98, and the Reserva, with Marmelar sitting as the prestige limited release.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Pousio Parcela 98 is the right first bottle. It is a single-variety Alicante Bouschet, which means every element of colour, fruit, and body in the glass comes from one grape grown on one parcel near Marmelar village, vinified without a pump touching it at any stage. The 2019 vintage reached 16% alcohol and held 5.2 g/l of acidity, which keeps the wine from feeling flat despite its weight. In the glass it is almost opaque, with dark cherry and blackberry fruit, a concentrated mid-palate, and a warm, long finish. It is full-bodied wine in the full Alentejo sense, but the acid line prevents it from sitting heavy.