MIRYAM ABASCAL VALDENEBRO opens the doors of her family’s wine estate in Portugal
THE WINEMAKER AND ARISTOCRAT ON KEEPING A FAMILY DREAM ALIVE
‘Portugal has been a blessing for us and the children. It’s a magnificent place with lovely people, amazing landscapes and the best possible quality of life’
As she gazes out over the rows of vines on her historic wine estate, Miryam Abascal Valdenebro can see an elegant rosé in the making. But that’s not all. Before her eyes is living proof that – if lovingly nurtured – dreams, like vines, take root and grow.
It’s four years since the Andalusian aristocrat and her husband, Nicholas von Bruemmer, came to live in Casal
Santa María on the south-western tip of Portugal.
Financier Nicholas inherited the estate from his grandfather, Baron Bodo von Bruemmer, an extraordinary man who suddenly, at the age of 96, set about creating a vineyard here, devoting himself to it right up until his death in 2016, aged 105. And the couple couldn’t be happier to be carrying on his work. “The Baron was a visionary,” Miryam says.
After living in Milan, Madrid and Zurich, she and Nicholas adore Portugal and believe it’s the ideal place to bring up their sons Nicholas, 14, and Maximiliano, 12.
“This country has been a blessing for us and the children,” Miryam tells us. “It’s a magnificent place, with lovely people, amazing landscapes and the best possible quality of life.”
Miryam doesn’t say this lightly. As cousin to the Duke of Feria, she’s a proud Spaniard who adores her home city of Seville. But the peaceful country life has proved irresistible.
“I’m a real homebody and I love animals and nature,” she says. “In my spare time I paint.”
There’s certainly plenty here
‘My family is my greatest treasure. Family is where never-ending life and love begin’
to delight an artist’s eye. Built in 1711, the house lies between the stunning hill town of Sintra and the seaside resort of Cascais, with views over both sierra and sea.
It’s no surprise that, coming from the chillier north, Nicholas’s Germanic family have long loved
‘My husband always appreciated wine, but more as someone who drinks it’
this sunny corner of southern Europe. But growing wine here is, quite literally, a dream come true.
“When Nicholas’s grandfather was 96, he underwent an operation in Switzerland,” Miryam says. “When he came round, he told the doctor he had to go straight back to his home in Portugal because he’d dreamt about making wine there.
“In just six months, he planted ten hectares with vines. And he never stopped believing in his project.”
The Baron would be proud to see how his plan has come to fruition. Casal Santa María’s flagship rosé, the poetically named Mar de Rosas, brims with the taste of summer. It’s the result of considerable hard work.
“My husband always appreciated wine, but more as someone who drinks it!” Miryam says.
“He’s had to study a lot and spend hours and hours with his experts to learn all the tricks and techniques of winemaking.
“His passion for it has just kept growing and with it, his success, culminating in Mar de Rosas.”
Miryam is entitled to take some of the credit herself, too. She works side by side with Nicholas
and “as a true Virgo, I’m a perfectionist”, she says.
A MODEL WEDDING
The couple met through a friend when Nicholas was visiting Seville, and “it was love at first sight”.
Eight hundred guests attended their wedding in 2003, with Miryam’s aunt, veteran fashionista Naty Abascal, leading a stylish family parade.
Indeed, the day packed quite a fashion punch. “Elle Macpherson was a witness,” Miryam tells us. “My husband is a close friend of her ex, [Arpad] Arki Busson.”
Since settling down in Casal Santa María, the couple have been busily renovating their home inside and out.
“The last time it was done was in 1962, when the Baron bought it,” Miryam says. “There’s still more to do – with a property like this, you’re never really finished.”
Living merely four hours from Seville means Miryam can also take her boys to visit relatives as often as she likes.
“My family is my greatest
‘Elle Macpherson was a witness at our wedding. Nicholas is a close friend of her ex, Arki Busson’
‘I’m a real homebody and I love animals and nature. In my spare time I paint’
treasure,” she says. “Family is where never-ending life and love begin.”
But each time she says goodbye to her socialite aunt, she’s left with the sense of a Naty-shaped gap: “She’s a whirlwind of energy who sweeps you up. When she’s gone, you miss her.”
Despite this, as she sets off with her dogs for a long, leisurely country walk, you get the feeling Miryam has the best of all worlds.