102 Port anD the Douro
the property in the 1970s. Wine from the quinta is an important component in Ramos Pinto’s
Vintage Port but is also sold as a single-quinta twenty-year-old tawny.
Quinta do Retiro Antigo
Valença do douro, 5120 tabuaço
Grade a
Long part of the Warre vintage lote, this property was bought by the Symington family in
- The much photographed step-like terraces that form part of the property can be seen
from the Pinhão–São João de Pesqueira road.
Quinta do Retiro Novo
sarzedinho, 5120 tabuaço
Grade a
Deep in the Torto adjacent to the river, Retiro Novo belongs to the Portuguese firm of
Wiese & Krohn, who purchased the property in 1989. It now serves as a vinification centre
for the company’s range of Ports.
Quinta do Vale Dona Maria
casais do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
From 1973 to 1996, this nineteen-hectare property in the Torto valley was leased to the
Symingtons to make wine for Smith Woodhouse and provided the backbone for some of its
good but often undervalued vintages. Now back in the hands of the Lemos family, it is run by
Cristiano van Zeller (ex-Quinta do Noval), who has replanted much of the vineyard and restored
the lagares (unusually on the same level as the armazém). He is producing both vintage and
crusted Ports from the property as well as red Douro wine under the Quinta’s own label.
Quinta das Lages
sarzedinho, 5120 tabuaço
Grade a
This large estate extends upwards from the banks of the Rio Torto close to the village of
Sarzedinho. Graham’s have bought wines from the property for the best part of a century
and Lages has become crucially important to the style and overall balance of their wines.
The fruit and finesse that characterises Port from the Torto seems to complement the big,
intense wines from Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos further up the Douro.
Quinta de Macedos
sarzedinho, 5120 tabuaço
Grade a
This small property perched on a knoll above the Torto has been bought by Englishman
Paul Reynolds. With help from his brother Raymond (formerly a winemaker for Taylor’s),
he is producing a single-quinta Douro red from the property’s seven hectares of old vines.