Port anD the Douro 121Quinta do Ataíde
Vilariça, 5360 Vila Flor
Grade a
Planted with a smattering of vines in the 1850s when the threat of oidium was at its height,
the broad Vilariça valley was of no great significance to the wine business until Cockburn
bought 300 hectares here in 1978. Such is the importance of Ataíde and the nearby Assares
and Tourão vineyards today that they are known collectively as ‘Vilariça’. The acquisition
of Vilariça marked the beginning of a new generation of vineyards in the Douro, with
greater emphasis on research and development aimed at improving yields and reducing
costs. Cockburn’s initially established a nursery vineyard at Tourão, planted with virus-free
rootstock which at the time could only be sourced in France. At the same time Cockburn
began developing clones of the existing Douro varieties in order to produce high-quality
vines with improved yields both for their own properties and for independent farmers.
However, the principal advantage of planting a new vineyard in this isolated corner of the
Douro is the terrain. Apart from a few patamares on the edge of the property, Vilariça is
almost level and, despite the schistous nature of the soil, is relatively easy to mechanise.
Mechanical harvesting, still unthinkable elsewhere in the Douro, is feasible here. The main
drawback is the extreme climate with irregular rainfall and high summer temperatures,
sometimes in excess of 50°C. Vilariça was acquired with the specific intention of building
up a base for Cockburn’s Special Reserve Port and it served its purpose admirably. Some
wine even used to enter Cockburn’s vintage lote. Since the Symington family purchased
Cockburn’s in 2010, they have used the property to source their Douro red, Altano. With
127 hectares in production, 24 per cent of the vineyard is Touriga Nacional.
Quinta de Ervamoira / Museu de Ervamoira*
Muxagata 5150 Vila nova de Foz côa
tel. (351) 279 759 229
Grade a
Ervamoira is the fulfilment of a dream that nearly became a nightmare. In 1974 José António
Ramos Pinto Rosas, then Chairman of Port shipper Ramos Pinto, went prospecting in the
Douro Superior for an estate on relatively flat land that would allow a certain amount
of mechanisation. Having studied military maps, he found his promised land in the Côa
valley, a narrow tributary of the Douro upstream from Pocinho. The 200-hectare Quinta
Santa Maria was rechristened Quinta de Ervamoira. Planting began after the revolutionary
turmoil had abated in 1976 but no sooner had the 100-hectare vineyard become established
than the entire valley was threatened by the construction of the Côa dam which would
have submerged much of the property. Ervamoira was eventually saved by the discovery
of palaeolithic engravings on the schistous crags beside the River Côa and the whole area
has subsequently been designated as a ‘parque archeologico’ and a World Heritage Site (see
page 269). Ramos Pinto claim that Ervamoira is the first vineyard in the Douro to be block
planted with individual grape varieties (although this is also claimed by Cockburn). To João
Nicolau de Almeida, who looks after the production at Ramos Pinto, Ervamoira represents
‘the future of the Douro’. A museum has been set up on the property to record the past.