Port anD the Douro 103Quinta da Madalena
ervadosa do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
This small, unsung property in the Torto valley now belongs to the Symingtons but has long
been the basis for some of the vintage Ports produced by the firm of Smith Woodhouse. Of
seven hectares, just four are planted with vines. In 1995 and 2001 Madalena was made as a
single-quinta wine. The adjoining Quinta da Santa Madalena also supplies Smith Woodhouse.
Quinta de Perdiz
ervadosa do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
Deep in the Torto valley just upstream from Madalena, Quinta de Perdiz was leased for a
time to Churchill and has now been bought by Prats and Symington for the production of
premium Douro reds, Chryseia and Post Scriptum.
Quinta do Rio
ervadosa do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
Immediately upriver from Perdiz, Quinta do Rio was bought by Churchill in 2000. This
ten-hectare property now provides the basis for some of Churchill’s finest Ports and Douro
wines, bottled under the name of Churchill Estates.
Quinta da Soalheira
5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
Approaching the town of São João de Pesqueira on the altos above the Douro, a sign on the
right reads ‘Quinta da Soalheira 5.5 km’. The dust-choked track then plunges back down
into the Torto valley. The 330-hectare property belongs Borges & Irmão and used to be
the source of a single-quinta ten-year-old tawny. With 40 hectares of vines Soalheira now
produces Borges Douro wines, but the vineyard is being restructured and is the key to the
company’s revival as a Port shipper.
Pinhão
The shabby little town of Pinhão is the heart of the Cima Corgo and, for some, the soul
of the Douro. Facing a ninety-degree bend in the river, Pinhão was merely a hamlet on a
fluvial beach until the railway arrived in 1879. From being a single line of houses along a
single street, the place has expanded up the hillside in the 1980s to take in Quinta Amarela.
This prominent yellow-painted house used to stand immediately above Pinhão and is now
occupied by the school (subsequently closed) that stands precariously on stilts above the
town. With a bridge linking the south side of the Douro, all roads converge on Pinhão
and the single, narrow cobbled main street is a thoroughfare for growers and shippers. No
one can fail to pass through Pinhão without being seen and noted by the shopkeepers who
spend their idle hours (and they are many) talking on the pavement – when a Spanish-