112 Port anD the Douro
Quinta do Roriz
ervadosa do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
Roriz is one of the most famous quintas in the Cima Corgo. It began as a shooting box
leased in the 1700s by the Scotsman Robert Archibald from the Três Minas da Ordem
de Cristo who mined tin and gold here in the seventeenth century. From Archibald’s son
Diogo, the quinta passed into the hands of Nicolau Kopke and thereby through marriage
to the van Zeller family. Roriz fairly lays claim to one of the first single-quinta Ports, much
sought after in England in the early years of the nineteenth century. The London auction
house Christie’s records the sale of ‘thirty dozens of fine Old Port ... including Roriz’ in
their sale of 10 July 1828. The wine continued to be bottled by Gonzalez Byass through
the early years of the twentieth century but the property’s identity was subsequently lost
when the wines were sold to other shippers, including Ferreira and Noval. Since 2009 the
property has been owned by Prats and Symington and restored for the production of Douro
reds: Chryseia, Post Scriptum and Prazo de Roriz. The house, one of the most attractive in
the Douro, is situated on a short and fairly flat spur at the centre of the property. The forty-
three hectares of vineyard (25 per cent Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca) face west/
north west and span an altitude from 125 to 250 metres.
Quinta de São José
ervadosa do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
This small riverside property immediately below Quinta do Roriz has been bought by the
Brito e Cunha family who have restored the modest schist-built house into accommodation
for paying guests. João Brito e Cunha is the winemaker for Lavradores de Feitoria (see page
252).
Quinta da Gricha
ervadosa do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a.
At an altitude of 250 metres (immediately above Roriz), Gricha derives its name from a
small spring that rises on the hillside and, through a series of granite-lined watercourses,
continues to supply water to the house. The property was planted in the 1840s and an adega
was built a decade later with impressive granite lagares decorated by carved finials. In 1999
Gricha was the first property to be acquired by Port shippers Churchill. The wine from the
property now forms the backbone of their vintage Port and in good interim years, grapes
from the old vineyards are made into a fine single-quinta Port.
Quinta do Vau
soutelo do douro, 5130 são João de Pesqueira
Grade a
‘Vau’ is the Portuguese word meaning ‘ford’ and this quinta on the south bank of the river
marked a shallow crossing point in the Douro prior to the construction of the dams in