Thomas Reynolds emigrated to Porto in 1824 and founded Thomas Reynolds & Son, dedicated to the export of Port wine, olive oil, wool, honey, and cork to England. Around 1832, he moved to Alentejo, attracted by the cork business.
Herdade do Mouchão is one of the dozens of estates where the Reynolds family produced cork, and it is likely that vineyards already existed on the estate at that time.
In 1850, Robert Hunter Reynolds (Thomas’s son) took over the management of the business, and in 1869 his nephew William Reynolds played a crucial role in the fight against phylloxera as President of the National Commission Against Phylloxera.