The first references to Quinta do Vallado date back to 1716. Having once belonged to the legendary Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, the quinta has since remained in the Ferreira family, now in its sixth generattion.
Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira lived in the Douro, where she had numerous farms and properties. Quinta do Vallado was one of them.
This well-know lady used to spend time in each of her estates, closely watching over the production of wine in each of them.
The Ferreira family, taday represented by Dona Maria Antónia Ferreira, descends directly from Dona Antónia's only male son.
Quinta do Vallado has been in the Ferreira family for over 200 years, and was already more than 100 years old when it was purchased by an uncle of Dona Antónia.
After a great fire destroyed the house, it remained uninhabited for many years. The farm's agricultural aktivities were pursued, and for a long time the wine produces was sold every year to the famous Casa Ferreirs.
It was only at the end of the 20th century, after Casa Ferreira was sold to Sogrape, that the Ferreira family decided to create its own brand and start to sell directly its wine production.
The wish was then born to restore the farm's main house, wich is in fact part of the company's corporate identity and features in the labels of ist wines.
While recovering the family's tradition, the aim was also to create a space serving simultaneously to host events to promote the Vallado brand, and to receive visitors wisching to know about the farms' prducts and the region.
The author of the restoration project was architect Manuel Magalhaes.
With the restoration works concluded, and all the tourism infrastructures in place, Quinta do Vallado is now prepared to receive its guests in a comfortable an welcoming atmosphere.
The high quality of its wines, recognised by the most reputable international wine experts, and the newly restored farm house make Quinta do Vallado a reference in the Douro region, where you can enjoy the best it has to offer.
Quelle: www.wonderfulland.com/vallado/valladoturismo/bd_index_uk.htm
Also in 1993, under the guidance of Prof. Nuno Magalhaes, the farm started a deep restructuring of its vines with the objective of both increasing the production of high quality grape varieties, and the adopton of vine plantation and training systems permitting better growth and an easier mechanisation of works.
The new vines were planted in clearly defined areas, breaking with the tradition of mixing different varieties in the same vineyard.
The homogenisation of treatment, ripening and picking times made for a clear improvement in processes and translated into a much more regular, easier to control and economically effective quality production.
One of the key new methods introduced was to make a gerneral perliminary survey of the crop. This permits to prune out surplus clusters from some of the low-producing varieties, while still green, greatly enhancing the quality and richness of the remaining grapes.
With 38 ha of vineyards ages 6 to 10 years and having kept 26 ha of the best old plots, more than 60-year old, Francisco Olazabal (oenologist) and Francisco Ferreira (head of agricultural management and administration) have taken the farm to internationally acclaimed levels of quality an recognition.
As the new vineyards reach their adult age and the knowledge of each variety and plot deepens, the expectations grow: The owners believe Quinta do Vallado wines will make a huge qualitative leap in the next 5 to 10 years.
The vineyards (the raw material)
Quinta do Vallado's 64 ha of vineyards are for the most part planted in the south and west facing slopes of schist soil, exellent for an optimum ripening of the grapes. The climate is Mediterranean but from yaer to yaer is becoming increasingly unstable.
Two thirds of the properties are planted in terraces with a single row of vines, pruned according to the double cardon system.
The dominant varieties are, in reds, Touriga Francesa, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Barroca, Sousao and Tinto Cao, and in whites, Malvasia Fina, Viozinho, Rabigato, Moscatel and Verdelho. The old vines follow the ground lines and are planted in continuous rows distanced 1.2 m, with 1 m between each plant.
There are more than 20 varieties, but the predominant ones are Tinta Amarela, Tinta Roriz, Barroca and Touriga Francesa (reds) and Moscatel and Malvasia Fina (whites).
Vinification (The Wineries)
A new state-of-the-art winery was built in 1997.
The grapes are taken to the winery in small boxes to avoid crushing and overheating, and are then dropped onto a sorting belt that carries them to the destemmer/crusher.
From there they fall by gravity to stainless steel fermentation vats with automatic pumping and temperature control, where they ferment betweem 7 and 8 days at a temperature of 26° to 28°degrees Clesius. A small percentage of the grapes is trodden in lagares using the traditional method.
For Port the treatment is different: the grapes are fermented in cement vats for a period of 4 to 5 days.
Aging (The Cellars)
Quinta do Vallado's old semi-spherical storage tanks, no longer in use, were converted to receive the French oak casks where Reserve wines are aged.
For fourteen months the wine is kept half in new casks and half in casks that have been used for one year, where it take on the oak's flavour and aromas. It then ages for another 6 months in the bottle and is released 2 years after harvesting.
Table wines - Quinta do Vallado and Vinha dos Freires - age for around 9 months in stainless steel vats, after which they are bottled and released 1 year after the harvest.
The Team
Quinta do Vallado is currently managed by Guilherme Álvares Ribeiro, with the help of his wife Maria Antónia Ferreira.
Francisco Olazabal, the head of oenology, and Francisco Ferreira, an agriculture engineer and head of agricultural management and administration, make up the technical staff. Both are descendants of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira.
Quelle: www.wonderfulland.com/vallado/valladovinho/bd_index_uk.htm
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Quinta do Vallado war unser erstes Douro-Erlebnis und hat riesigen Spaß gemacht.
Bereits mit dem ersten Schluck auf der Weinterrasse, gefüttert mit frischen Oliven, Mandeln und fast warmen Sandwiches waren wir fast verhungerten (und verdursteten) Weintouristen im 7. Himmel.
Aber als Francisco uns dann im heimischen Esszimmer mit den Spezialitäten des Landes verwöhnt und dazu die gut gereiften Jahrgänge aufgezogen hat - begleitet von einer köstlichen Kohlsuppe - war es kaum mehr zu glauben, dass Deutschland erst 5 Stunden hinter uns lag.
... das war WELTKLASSE!
