108 Port anD the Douro
Quinta da Terra Feita
Provesende, 5085 Pinhão
Grade a
Taylor and Fonseca own an enviable amalgam of quintas deep in the Pinhão valley, which
together count as one of the finest vineyard holdings in the Douro. With forty-eight
hectares of vineyard, Quinta da Terra Feita is Taylor’s largest property. It covers a low spur
on the right bank of the river and is easy to recognise because of the small flat vineyard
on the summit that was made by blasting away nineteen metres of rock from the top
of the knoll. All grapes from the quinta are foot trodden in two adegas on the estate.
The richly perfumed wines from Terra Feita are a major component in Taylor’s vintage
Ports, bolstered by those from Quinta de Vargellas upstream in the Douro Superior. Small
quantities of single-quinta vintage Port from Terra Feita are released in good interim
years.
‘Museu dos Lagares’
Vale de Mendiz, 5070 alijó
From the outside there is nothing remarkable about this rectangular whitewashed building,
but on the inside are the Douro’s only round lagares. They were built by António Pinto
Gouveio at the end of the nineteenth century, an eccentric who apparently believed that
the treaders could hurt their feet in the corners of the conventional rectangular lagares.
The building was converted into a museum by Sandeman and in 2004 the Museu dos
Lagares was bought by Niepoort who also acquired an old vineyard nearby. They have
returned the round lagares to working order and make some of their finest Ports here.
Quinta de Cruzeiro
Vale de Mendiz, 5070 alijó
Grade a
An imposing crenellated gateway marks the entrance to this seemingly modest property
on the edge of the village of Vale de Mendiz. Facing Terra Feita on the opposite side of the
River Pinhão, Cruzeiro has been at the heart of Fonseca’s Vintage Port since 1912. It was
bought in a run-down condition by the company in 1973 and much of the vineyard has
subsequently been replanted on patamares. Touriga Franca and Tinta Barroca together now
account for over 60 per cent of the vines on the property, producing beautifully balanced,
fragrant Ports which complement the bigger, rather more robust wines from Panascal. The
wines from Cruzeiro are foot trodden on the quinta in lagares.
Quinta do Silval
Vale de Mendiz, 5070 alijó
Grade a
Not to be confused with Noval’s Silval (the name of their second vintage Port), Quinta do
Silval is independently owned by the Magalhães family who make Port and Douro wines on
the property. The family’s fifty hectares of vineyard extend up from the River Pinhão over
the hill unto the neighbouring Roncão valley. In the past, Ports from Quinta do Silval have