“The opening date is scheduled for the second half of 2021 and the project maintains the facade and rehabilitates Burmester’s former facilities,” in the old Calçada das Freiras, now Rua de Serpa Pinto, “which have been vacant for some years”.


Sogevinus tourism director, Maria Manuel Ramos, referred to this investment in the hotel business as the “big project” that the group has in the pipeline “for the next years, specifying that the future unit will have the profile of a Kopke “hotel of charm”.


“The customer will have a feeling of being in a Douro farm. We will not build, we will recover warehouses. The construction will be minimal” and the hotel will have “a garden” that will be near the river, she added.


Maria Manuel Ramos also added that Sogevinus intends to reinforce its presence in the Douro Demarcated Region, looking above all for “farms bordering S. Luís”.


Quinta de S. Luís, located near Pinhão, is closely linked to Kopke wines, and “will be open for tourism as early as September, with 13 rooms, a boutique winery, a chapel, and a tasting space”.


The Calém cellars, which Sogevinus says are “the most visited” in the country, the Hotel Kopke project, the announced investment in Quinta de S. Luís, and the recent opening of a restaurant in the pedestrian zone of the Gaia waterfront, show the strong focus of the group in the tourism sector.


With an annual turnover of €40 million, Sogevinus says that 20 percent of the total amount comes from tourism.