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Located in Arcos de Valde, EVAG, or the Research Center for the Vinhos Verdes Demarcated Region, belongs to the CVRVV and occupies a 66-hectare property known as Quinta de Campos do Lima, on the north bank of the Lima River, overlooking Ponte da Barca.

Founded in 1984, EVAG is a crucial center for experimentation and research and has played a key role in advancing viticulture in the Vinhos Verdes Demarcated Region.

The name, EVAG, honors an influential agronomist Amândio Galhano (1908-1991), and the research station was founded by the CVRVV, the Viticulture Commission of the Vinhos Verdes Region, to lead winegrowing projects and experimentation intended to develop and modernize procedures in the vineyards of the Vinhos Verdes Demarcated Region.

Mission and Objectives

EVAG engages in scientific research into agriculture, forestry and fishing, with a main focus on viticulture and enology, providing nursery services and the sale of vines. It conducts research and development projects and implements integrated viticulture production and protection, with the provision of related services,  as well as performing forestry activities.  

In addition to agriculture, forestry and fish farming, EVAG distributes vegetative materials, implements integrated vine protection measures and offers services, support, R&D projects, and professional training activities to improve products and processes related to the vineyard.

For the most part, the Quinta has a southern exposure and a variety of soils, predominately granitic. A total area of 66 hectares is divided between about 26 hectares of vineyards, 15 of forests, seven of nurseries, eight of social areas and 10 of fallow plots. The Quinta comprises several vineyards, housing an ampelographic collection that reflects the genetic legacy of the Vinhos Verdes Region, which includes 56 regional grape varieties out of a total of 189 white grape varieties and 97 red.

 

Applied Research

EVAG has emerged as a dynamic force in the Vinhos Verdes Region during a period of change and necessary adaptations to new agricultural methods. It was planned to validate experimental approaches while preserving the originality and typicity of Vinhos Verdes, so the station identified key challenges in viticulture and outlined several fields of action, conducting studies and experimentation.

Projects include experimentation into novel cultivation methods, the use of rootstocks adapted to the various conditions of the region, the realization of phytosanitary studies on vines, and the preservation and study of an ampelographic collection that protects 56 indigenous grapes, together with other national and international varieties. All of this research contributes to the continual advancement of viticulture in the Vinhos Verdes Demarcated Region.