Van Zellers & Co have an history of 400 years old. Is the oldest family to make Porto Wine. Beside the family is involvedin the trade of different goods, including Porto Wine, since the beginning of the century XVIII, it was officially denominated as a Port Wine company in 1780 by the first generation of Portuguese van Zellers. Still in the 18th century, it developed its first export markets, from England to Russia. One of the ancestors of Cristiano Van Zeller, the company's current manager, was appointed Russian consul in Porto by Czarina Catarina the Great.
The long history, despite some changes of ownership, can only mean that the only way to arrive with full vitality to the present day, is due to the uninterrupted and constant reinvention, crossing centuries of adaptation to seasons, to the cycles of taste, evolving at the present time.
It is in the 1980s that the company acquires the almost final contours that last until now. With Cristiano van Zeller, Van Zellers & Co becomes independent from the main company, the Quinta do Noval, managing its own stocks, vineyards and brands. However, the company was sold again by the van Zeller family together with Quinta do Noval in 1993, entering a phase of dormancy and commercial inactivity.
By that time, Cristiano Van Zeller had begun to be decisive in the history of the birth and rise of Douro DOC wines. In 1985, he began his first experiences in the production of table wines, while others were also doing it in other parts of the Douro, such as Dirk Niepoort and the Australian winemaker David Baverstock at Symington Family Estates, one of the best prepared generations of winemakers to leave the University of Vila Real.
Finally, in 2006, Cristiano reacquires the company and its brands. That same year he started producing the “VZ” Douro white wines 2006. It was soon followed by other Douro reds and whites. In 2007, CV-Curriculum Vitae Douro red, which had its first edition in 2003, becomes an integral part of the wine portfolio. Port wines reappeared later, in the latter part of 2009.
In 2018, Van Zellers & Co has its own stock of more than 175,000 liters of Tawny Velho and Porto Muito Velho, from 1860 to 2020 and currently aging in our winery in the Douro, ready for the new life to be brought to the company.
The company also has in stock many thousands of bottles of bottled Port (LBV and Vintage) and of older and current Douro vintages, both white and red (CV - Curriculum Vitae and VZ).
Van Zellers & Co owns 15 hectares of vineyards and has 860 m2 of cellars. Over these more than 400 years of experience, passed on by 15 generations, believing in the splendor of nature, they believe they have acquired the necessary knowledge to build great Ports, respecting the passage of time for the creation of great wines. Celebrating the 400th anniversary of the family in Port Wine, they relaunch Van Zellers & Co with a new image, a new philosophy and a new range of wines. They even came up with an original branding solution, dividing all these categories of Port Wine into three simpler ones: Wines that were produced by Hand, sculpted by Time or designed by Nature. Concepts extended to white and red wines from the Douro, embracing the diversity in the different styles, flavors, textures, origins and complexity behind Port and Douro Wine.
