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Pinheiro Preto, a municipality of only 3,500 inhabitants in the Meio Oeste region of Santa Catarina, leads the state ranking of wineries with 33 registered companies and accounts for about 70% of Santa Catarina’s wine production. The state jumped from 263 to 339 manufacturers between 2020 and April 2026, a 29% growth that reflects the strengthening of rural entrepreneurship and enotourism.
According to information from NSC, Santa Catarina wine is experiencing a moment of expansion that goes far beyond the traditional Serra region. Data released by the Commercial Board of the State of Santa Catarina (Jucesc) shows that the number of wine and sparkling wine manufacturers in the state grew by 29% in the last six years, jumping from 263 companies in 2020 to 339 by April 2026. The most surprising data, however, is not in the overall growth, but in the ranking’s leadership: Pinheiro Preto, a city of 3,500 inhabitants in the Meio Oeste, currently concentrates 33 wineries and accounts for about 70% of all Santa Catarina wine production.
Pinheiro Preto’s position surpasses that of municipalities with consolidated tradition and national prominence in the sector. São Joaquim, nationally known for its high-altitude wines, appears in second place with 32 registered companies, just one less. But it is the contrast between the city’s size and the volume of production that makes Pinheiro Preto’s case particularly revealing. A city where practically everyone knows each other by name concentrates a third of all the wine produced in the state, sustained by a family tradition that dates back to the Italian colonization of the region.
Pinheiro Preto: The Santa Catarina Wine Capital
The title of Santa Catarina Wine Capital is not informal. Pinheiro Preto officially holds this designation and justifies it with numbers that surpass those of much larger and better-known municipalities in the winemaking scene. The 33 registered wineries in the city are, for the most part, micro-enterprises and small businesses, which reflects a production model based on family farming and knowledge passed down through generations.
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The strong connection to Italian culture is the foundation that sustains Pinheiro Preto’s vocation for wine. The families who colonized the region brought with them not only viticulture and winemaking techniques, but also an everyday relationship with wine that is part of the local identity. This cultural heritage, combined with favorable climatic and soil conditions, has transformed the municipality into a productive hub that now supplies the Santa Catarina market and attracts visitors interested in enotourism experiences.
The Meio Oeste as an emerging force in the sector
Pinheiro Preto is not an isolated case in the region. Videira, another municipality in Santa Catarina’s Meio Oeste, stands out among the state’s highlights with 11 registered wineries, reinforcing the region’s historical vocation for grape and wine production. The influence of Italian colonization permeates the entire area, which for decades was associated more with fruit growing than with quality wine, but which now claims its place on the state’s wine map.
The growth of the sector in the Meio Oeste has been significantly boosting the local economy. Small family businesses that previously produced artisanal wine for their own consumption or for sale at local fairs are now formalizing, registering their brands, and investing in infrastructure to meet a demand that grows year by year. For cities with only a few thousand inhabitants, each new winery represents jobs, tax revenue, and an additional reason for young people to stay in rural areas instead of migrating to urban centers.
São Joaquim and high-altitude wines
While Pinheiro Preto leads in the number of wineries, São Joaquim is a close contender and carries a reputation that transcends state borders. The mountain city is nationally recognized for its production of high-altitude wines, favored by a cold climate that allows the cultivation of European wine grapes with characteristics that other Brazilian regions cannot replicate. With 32 registered companies, São Joaquim is the second municipality with the highest concentration of wine manufacturers in Santa Catarina.
In the Santa Catarina Mountains, high-altitude wine tourism has become an economic driver that goes beyond the bottle. During the harvest period, wineries open their doors to tourists with experiences that include grape harvesting, treading, pairings, and guided tastings. Neighboring municipalities such as Urubici, Bom Retiro, and Lages are also increasing investments in the sector, creating a high-altitude wine corridor that attracts visitors from all over Brazil and positions the Santa Catarina Mountains as a direct competitor to traditional destinations in Rio Grande do Sul.
Urussanga and the grape that became heritage
In the South of Santa Catarina, Urussanga keeps alive a tradition that no other region in Brazil possesses. The city holds the country’s only Denomination of Origin dedicated to the Goethe grape, a variety that has become a symbol of Santa Catarina’s Italian heritage. With 13 registered wineries, Urussanga ranks third in the state and preserves a wine style that carries cultural identity in every bottle.
The Denomination of Origin is a seal that certifies the origin and quality of wine produced with the Goethe grape in that specific region, a recognition that adds value to the product and differentiates Urussanga in the national market. For local producers, the seal is not just a commercial distinction: it is the officialization of a story that begins in the suitcases of Italian immigrants and reaches the glasses of consumers seeking wines with identity and roots. Together with Tubarão, which has 10 wineries, the South of the state forms another relevant hub in Santa Catarina’s wine scene.
Innovation in protected cultivation
Not all wine-producing regions in Santa Catarina depend exclusively on climate and natural terroir. In Nova Trento, in the Tijucas River Valley, producers are investing in protected cultivation, a technique where grapevines are covered by greenhouse-like structures that reduce the impact of rain, control humidity, and increase productivity. The municipality currently has 9 registered wineries and represents a facet of the sector that combines planting tradition with agricultural technology.
Protected cultivation solves one of the biggest challenges of viticulture in subtropical climate regions, where excessive rainfall during the ripening period can compromise grape quality and favor fungal diseases. By covering the trellises, producers gain greater predictability in harvesting and can work with grape varieties that would be unfeasible in open fields. For the sector as a whole, Nova Trento’s experience demonstrates that the growth of Santa Catarina wine is not only based on cultural heritage but also on a willingness to innovate.
Wine tourism as a growth engine
The increase in the number of wineries in Santa Catarina accompanies the expansion of rural tourism in the state. Many properties that previously focused exclusively on production have started investing in visitor-oriented experiences, such as tastings, guided vineyard tours, colonial breakfasts, rural accommodation, and thematic events related to wine culture. This diversification of revenue strengthens small producers and creates an ecosystem where gastronomy, landscape, and tradition complement each other.
For consumers, wine tourism offers something that no supermarket shelf can deliver: the story behind the wine. Getting to know the producer, walking among the trellises, understanding the winemaking process, and tasting the product where it was born creates an emotional connection that transforms the act of opening a bottle into something much more significant. In Santa Catarina, this experience can happen both in the family wineries of Pinheiro Preto and in the high-altitude vineyards of São Joaquim, each with its own personality and proposal.
339 wineries and a story that is far from over
Santa Catarina currently has 339 registered wineries, distributed among the Midwest, the Mountains, the South, and the Tijucas River Valley. The 29% growth in six years, according to Jucesc, reflects a combination of cultural heritage, family entrepreneurship, investment in tourism, and climatic conditions that favor wine production in different styles and altitudes. Pinheiro Preto leads with 33 companies, but the sector’s advancement is visible in practically all wine-producing regions of the state.
Have you ever tasted a wine from Santa Catarina? Tell us in the comments if you know any winery in Pinheiro Preto, São Joaquim, Urussanga, or Nova Trento, what your experience was like, and if you believe Santa Catarina wine can compete with labels from Rio Grande do Sul and imported ones. We want to know your opinion on this expansion of the sector.
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