Barbosa Amado & Vicente

In 1966, Paulino Barbosa Vicente and his cousin Carlos Barbosa Amado decided to purchase the 1,775 hectares of land put up for sale by an elderly Portuguese landowner. The Barbosas were farmers and merchants from the volcanic island of Fogo, who initially used the land to grow bananas and coconuts for export, primarily to Portugal.

In 1970, they installed their first still, thus beginning the production ofgrogue. Manuel Barbosa Amado, the sixth of Carlos’s eight children, born in 1971, began managing the family estate after studying agronomy in Brazil. In 2001, he converted the 35 hectares—planted with bananas and sugarcane—to organic farming. That same year, a 250-liter copper still heated directly by a wood fire was installed. The 9 hectares of sugarcane are located in the Ribeira de Mangue Valley.