At the beginning of the 20th century, Humberto da Silva Cardoso saw the expansion of viticulture in Palmela as an opportunity.

Young, entrepreneur and visionary, he was a pioneer in the automobile industry, when he created one of the first road companies in Portugal, Auto-Cars Palmelense. With the profits from the sale of this company, he bought three large estates and built the Quinta do Piloto and Serra wineries, which remain in the family. Humberto Cardoso has become one of the most respected wine growers in Palmela.

But he soon handed over the management to his sons, Rui and Álvaro, and set out to fulfill his passion: traveling the world. Very young, Álvaro Cardoso took over the family business. With almost 500 hectares of vines, it was one of the largest areas of vines in Europe, and it produced 4 million liters of wine per year, an extraordinary volume at the time, sold in bulk in the region.

His nephew, Humberto, trained in agronomy, nurtured the dream of bottling his wines. A dream that his son Filipe Cardoso fulfilled.

Quinta do Piloto’s production comes from a selection of the family’s vineyards in the best terroirs of Palmela. Among these, there are 35 ha of old vines, aged 40 to 70 years, spread over three estates - Lau, Fernando Pó and Agualva - with sandy soils, Terroir ideal for the traditional varieties Castelão (Periquita) and Fernão Pires. 4 ha of Moscatel stand out in clay-limestone soils oriented to the north, the origin of aromatic wines with greater acidity and incomparable freshness

The Cardoso family wineries, with a capacity of 6 million liters, stand out for their traditional winemaking methods, based on natural resources, minimizing energy costs and environmental impact. At Quinta do Piloto winery, in Serra do Louro, the lighting is natural, thick walls ensure a constant temperature and the entire process is carried out using gravity. This is one of the few wineries that preserves the traditional Palmela self-vinifying method using Algerian amphorae. 100% ecological, as it uses the natural energy of fermentation to pump over.