Herdade Grande has belonged to the Lança family since 1920, when it was acquired by Ernesto dos Santos Lança, a farmer from Aljustrel. At the time, the vineyard and the olive grove were crops present. After the death of Ernesto dos Santos Lança it is his son, Eduardo, who assumes the destiny of Herdade Grande. Eduardo continues with the culture of the vine and is a passionate about the wine of Talha, which he produces every year. António Lança is born, son of Eduardo Lança. The family man continues his passion for the land and, in 1970, he graduated in Agronomic Engineering from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Naturally, he would become manager of Herdade Grande. The vineyard area of Herdade Grande has been greatly reconfigured since 1980, growing to 60 ha. A great diversity of national and international grape varieties is chosen, taking into account their adaptability to the “terroir”, in order to preserve the typical characteristics of Alentejo wines. António Lança’s vision leads Herdade Grande to start bottling its wine in 1997. Thus was born the Herdade Grande brand, prepared to sell between 350,000 and 400,000 bottles of wine, 30% white and 70% red. From 2008 onwards, the olive grove area is also boosted for the production of olive oil with its own brand, once again, Herdade Grande. Produced from the best olives, HG Olive Oil is soft, with low acidity and preserves the genuine aromas and flavours characteristic of the Cobrançosa and Galega varieties. From 2011 on, the fourth generation of the Lança family officially gets involved in the company’s destinies. Mariana Lança, graduated from ISA in agronomic engineering with a master’s degree in viticulture/enology, accepts her father’s challenge to assume the general direction of the project, namely the commercial and marketing areas and her great passion: viticulture.
