114 Port anD the Douro
Quinta dos Malvedos
são Mamede da Riba tua, 5070 alijó
Grade a
Malvedos is synonymous with W. & J. Graham, having been a component in their renowned
vintage Ports for over a century. The quinta briefly parted company from Graham in the lean
years of the early 1970s but was repurchased in poor condition by the Symington family in
1982, who have subsequently invested substantial sums in restoring the property. The latest
development is a new winery, constructed sympathetically from local schist, with stainless
steel robotic lagares to tread the grapes; one of the old granite lagares has been retained.
Covering nearly a hundred hectares, the property is predominantly south-facing and rises
up to 400 metres in altitude. Malvedos produces big but balanced and lasting wines that
stand up on their own as single-quinta vintage Ports. The simple nineteenth-century solar
provided peaceful holiday accommodation for British Prime Minister John Major in 1993
and 1994. A brass plaque on the café at Senhora da Ribeira upstream records the event.
From the tua to Valeira
Like Pinhão downriver, the village of Tua, with its single cobbled street, owes its existence
to the railway. The station used to be the junction between the main line and the wonderful
narrow-gauge branch line to Bragança but after a number of fatal accidents this has now been
closed. The spectacular Tua valley, most of which is too sheer to plant vineyards, is under
threat from a hydroelectric scheme which would alter the landscape irrevocably. Upstream
from Tua, the sheltered Ribalonga valley is planted with fruit trees and vines. With the
exception of Quinta do Zimbro which used to belong to Silva & Cosens (Dow), there are
no large properties of any note, but the wines from Ribalonga are prized by shippers for their
finesse. Croft used to be important buyers here. On the south side of the Douro there are a
number of quintas in the shelter of their own small valleys: Quinta do Mileu which used to
form part of the Ferreira empire, Quinta do São Martinho and Quinta do Castelinho. The
Douro is much narrower here and, after the winter rains, the river is quite fast flowing.
Quinta do Tua
tua, 5140 carrazeda de ansiães
Grade a.
Overlooking the confluence of the River Tua with the Douro, Quinta do Tua belonged to
Dona Antónia Ferreira until it was bought by Cockburn Smithes in 1899. It subsequently
became known as Quinta dos Inglezes (‘the English Quinta’) and appears on the Instituto
Geográfico do Exercito maps as ‘Quinta do Smith’(sic). The terraced vineyards of Quinta do
Tua are on a spur of land above the mouth of the River Tua and include neighbouring Quinta
da Chousa. Tua was the site of some of the first varietal plantings in the Douro, carried out
by John Smithes in the 1930s. The modest but well proportioned solar or mansion has been
joined by a rather utilitarian winery and a line-up of concrete balões for the bulk storage of
Port. The wines from Tua frequently formed part of Cockburn’s vintage Port until the property
was bought by the Symington family in 2010 and rebranded as a Graham estate.