Miguel Costa and family
Miguel António Costa, great grandfather of the current owner, produced and sold Port Wine in bulk. At that time, transport was done in barrels, in well-conditioned Rabelo boats that followed the Douro River to the warehouses in Gaia.
Miguel António Costa’s dedication to Port Wine led to the conviction that storage/ ageing would be a good initiative. There was an effort to keep some Port Wine in wooden casks in his cellar. A small barrel still remains there today and holds a lot of old Port Wine that bears witness to that era.
His grandson, Agostinho Amável Costa, following the tradition of his father, José Augusto Costa, increases the areas of harvest from the 1960s onwards. In 1989 he created the Amável Costa brand, beginning a personal vision of a Port of excellence from the Upper Douro region. He begins to accumulate a considerable stock of old wines as a result of this expansion, and from the 1990s onwards he begins to bottle a small proportion of the wines he has in bulk.
Amável Costa Family
Amável Costa family in the 1933 harvest, (Featured: Agostinho Amável Costa)
From 2013, Agostinho Amável Costa stepped down from the leadership of the company due to age, handing over the reins to his daughter, Isabel Costa. There was immediately an enormous desire to renew various aspects of the company.
At the same time, restoration work was carried out on the winery, as well as the acquisition of new winemaking equipment. The number of bottle sales also began to increase, with a total rebranding of the portfolio. Of the multiple brands created by Agostinho Costa, the focus was kept on two: Amável Costa and Cedovim.
Agostinho Amável Costa
Isabel Costa e David Costa Branco
Amável Costa currently also counts on the dynamism of the family’s 5th generation. The intention is to ally the knowledge of the past with a business philosophy suited to current times. A bet on constant innovation, always bearing in mind the enormous tradition in the production of Port wine that the house possesses. International recognition, demonstrated by medals won in important competitions such as the Decanter Wine Awards or the International Wine Competition, motivate us to continue working and improving our products.