I would like to take this moment to write about me and the Casal, as I feel that, even in my future absence, in the coming years many of you will visit the us and the vineyards. To understand me better why I came to Portugal in the first place, I will have to explain a little bit the reasons. I was born in one of the formerly Baltic Russian Provinces (Estonia, Livonia, Curland) and during the Russian Revolution we had to flee in 1918 to Germany. After I was in 15 schools and Universities I finally landed in Switzerland, were I spent most of my professional life as a banker (what else would someone do in Switzerland).

But nevertheless it has always, since we lost our home in 1918, been my dream to start a new family tradition in a new place in Europe. The older I got the more convinced I was that it will be land and agriculture which will form part of this dream. After my 50’s birthday I decided, it is time to find this place where I can live after retirement and start the project. Dreams and sunshine came together, and on one of my trips to Portugal, in the beginning of the 60’s I came across this magnificent spot in Almocageme – Colares. The house was a ruin, but the views and the fields were magnificent. So I decided to go ahead and buy the Casal Sta Maria.