Douro wines 261with some Sousão give this wine a character of its own. The latter grape is sometimes bottled
as a fascinating, dark, dense varietal red. Vallado’s wines are made by Francisco (‘Chito’)
Olazabal who is also responsible for Quinta do Vale Meão (below).
Quinta do Vale dona Maria
5130-005 Ervadosa do Douro
tel. (351) 223 744320
http://www.valedonamaria.com
Since 1996, Cristiano van Zeller (ex-Quinta do Noval) has been running his wife’s family
quinta in the Rio Torto. Besides single-quinta Port, van Zeller is also making some excellent
Douro wines from twenty hectares of vineyard. The wines are made by Sandra Tavares da
Silva who also has her own wine project, Wine and Soul. The grapes are foot trodden in lagar
and the wines ferment in temperature-controlled stainless steel before being aged for twelve
months in new French oak casks. Quinta Vale Dona Maria is a firm, well-structured red with
fine-grained tannins and expressive, plummy Douro fruit. CV, made from the oldest vines on
the estate, is rich and dense with massive tannic structure and length of flavour.
Quinta do Vale Meão
F. Olazabal & Filhos Lda
Quinta do Vale Meão, 5150 – 501 Vila nova de Foz côa
tel. (351) 279 762 156
http://www.quintadovalemeao.pt
Dona Antónia Ferreira was an astute businesswoman who bought and developed this
magnificent property on a meander in the Douro in 1877, ten years before the arrival of the
railway at nearby Pocinho which transformed the Douro Superior. The property remained
with the Ferreira family until it was bought out by Dona Antónia’s great-great-grandson,
Francisco ‘Vito’ Olazabal, in 1994. Vale do Meão was the source of Portugal’s most famous
red wine, Barca Velha, from 1952 until the source changed to Quinta da Leda in the mid-
1990s. In 1999, following his retirement as Managing Director of Ferreira, Olazabal severed
all ties with the company and, together with his son Francisco (‘Chito’), is now producing
Port and Douro wine independently.
The famous lagares at Vale Meão have been completely restored. Each lagar has been
divided in two to create six lagares with a capacity of fourteen pipes each, as opposed to
three for thirty pipes. The Olazabals have invested heavily in a robotic treading system
similar to that used by Noval, but hydraulic rather than pneumatic which they claim
exerts greater pressure. Vale Meão’s first wine was produced in 1999, a rich if rather
solid, foursquare red with ripe tannins. Subsequent vintages have been hugely rich with
powerful fleshy fruit, structured but with beguilingly soft, ripe tannins. Within five years,
Quinta do Vale Meão had followed in the footsteps of Barca Velha and was rated as one
of Portugal’s leading reds. A second wine named Meandro shares the ripeness but not the
structure and is excellent value for money.