Pomar na Vinha

In ancient times, in the region of the Setúbal Peninsula, the apple trees of Riscadinha cohabited with the vine, on the same land. The harvest of the apples took place in July and August, and the proceeds from the sale were used to pay for the harvest. With time, the vines conquered the soil and, consequently, this variety of apples almost disappeared from the agricultural map.

Faced with the risk of disappearance, the Municipality of Palmela, the Cooperativa Agrícola de Palmela and the Ministry of Agriculture decided to go ahead with a project to recover the Riscadinha de Palmela Apple. In this context, the Pomar na Vinha is born, a name that has its origins in the agricultural tradition of yesteryear.

“The orchard is eight years old and there are between 2500 and 3000 trees”, informs Eduardo Aires, owner of this project, whose land is in Lagoa do Calvo, in the parish of Poceirão, belonging to the municipality of Palmela, in the district of Setúbal. The campaign is short, as the apple is harvested between July and August. "It is caught daily, which requires strict management to determine the days to be harvested." The total amount of fruit harvested “is between 15 and 20 tons, but it always depends on the year”. The year 2021 “was good for apples, but bad for sales, because people started working at home and don't go to the stores that much”, he stresses. “Much of the apple is in Lisbon. It is certainly between 80 to 90%.”

Planted in 2013, they began to receive certification in organic production mode in 2018, by SATIVA, and obtained the DOP certificate, as it has been a Protected Designation of Origin product since March 2011, "but there is no entity manager that supervises and controls the product and enforces the rules regarding the Protected Designation of Origin”.