Port ProDuCers anD shiPPers 229market. With Bordeaux-trained Jorge Pintão in charge of the winemaking, Poças has
been going upmarket.
Quinta do Portal
Praça Francisco sá carneiro, 2933e 4200–314 Porto
tel. (351) 225 512 028
http://www.quintadoportal.pt
The Mansilha family has owned vineyards in the Favaios area for over a century and, in
1991, set up their own company producing Port and Douro wine with a well-equipped
winery near Celeirós. Grapes are sourced from four quintas owned by the company, all in
or above the Pinhão valley. After a somewhat shaky start, the Ports have been improving,
especially aged tawnies which regularly win awards. Vintage Ports have gained stature from
the 1999 vintage onwards. Portal is one of very few firms to specialise in fortified Moscatel,
mostly grown at Quinta de Abelheira near Favaios. Two wines are produced under the
Portal label: a simple, clean, aromatic youthful non-vintage and a richer, more subdued
reserva with the appeal of thick-cut marmalade. Unusually for this style of wine, it also has
a hint of new oak.
Quarles harris
Symington Family Estates
travessa Barnão de Forrester, 86, apartado 26, 4431-901 Vila nova de Gaia
tel. (351) 223 776 300
http://www.symington.com
Founded by Thomas Dawson in 1680, Quarles Harris is among the oldest of all the
Port houses. The Harris family were wine suppliers in the City of London and entered
the company when Quarles Harris married Dorothea Dawson in 1752. The firm grew
substantially during the latter part of the eighteenth century and by 1792 Quarles Harris
was the second largest Port shipper. It remained independent until the 1920s when
Reginald Quarles Harris sold the firm to Andrew James Symington, who was related to
him by marriage.
The Symington family manages Quarles Harris in tandem with two other subsidiary
brands, Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell. It is the least well known of all the
Symington houses and the name is often incorrectly pronounced (‘Quarles’ rhymes with
‘squalls’). The company has no dedicated vineyards to call its own and represents a deft
exercise in blending. At the upper end of the spectrum, Quarles Harris produces some
good vintage Ports that are well made and well priced. Vinified and blended to a firm, dry
style that often resembles Dow, the wines don’t have the same depth or staying power. In
a comparative tasting with Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell vintage Ports from
1970 to 1994 held in 2011, Quarles Harris was the weakest of the three.