Caves Transmontanas, Lda. makers of Vértice, was created in 1988 by Jack Davies of Schramsberg, Napa Valley. Jack was invited to Portugal by João R C Maia, a Douro based Port wine maker. In the early 1980’s João travelled to Napa Valley in order to learn about the new methods used in the New World. In the late 1980´s Jack Davies came to Portugal and realized that the country had the potential for the production of basic sparkling wine.




The following year Jack went back to Portugal with his staff to do micro-winemaking, in order to identify which of three distinctive wine producing regions (Minho, Bairrada and Douro) and which varieties of twenty-five originally chosen, offered the best conditions for the production of basic wine for sparkling wine to be produced according to the methode classique. This procedure along mass selection(as opposed to DNA selection) became a routine for five years and eventually they choose the Douro, in particular areas in the Cimo Corgo, with an average altitude above 550 meters and granite based soils.

With Davies’ passing, production of the finest Portuguese sparkling wines continues and delicious red and white wines have been added respectively in 1999 and 2003. The vineyards for the still wines are located in the Douro Superior and Cimo Corgo regions at much lower elevations, where the vines produce intense fruit on the dry schist soils.


Celso Pereira has been responsible for making Vértice since 1989. Celso is 50 and holds an Engineering degree in Agronomy. He took various post graduate courses in Portugal and Bordeaux and was an intern both at Schramsberg Vineyards, Calistoga, and at Pierro Vineyards in Margaret River, Australia. Prior to 1989, he was a winemaker with Caves Riba–Tua e Pinhão which were involved with the Schramsberg led experiments from June 1984 onwards. Before his winemaking career, Celso trained at the Casa do Douro laboratory and worked at the conditioning and vine planting service at the Centro de Estudos Vitivinícolas do Douro. He published two pieces: “A Comparative Study of Phenolic Uncolored Composites in Elementary White Wines (Códega and Gouveio) with vinification in stainless steel vats and oak barrels”

“The Influence of Grape Maturation Stages and Temperature during Fermentation in the Aroma of Elementary White Wines for the vines Códega, Gouveio and Malvasia Fina.”