2015 Port Harvest Tour 1 - Travelogue

[Roy Hersh]

Glad to do so. Finding the time in the midst of PHT2, is the only difficulty.

[Thomas V]

These posts are highly appreciated Roy. Thank you for the effort and details.

[Eric Menchen]

It is tempting to pick up where you left off, at Quinto do Tedo.
But first I'll start with tasting notes from that day.

[Roy Hersh]

Eric,

Please feel free to pick up on Friday and I'll finish with Saturday, afterwards.

It would be great for others to get a different perspective from a first time tour guest.

Thanks!

Roy

[Andy Velebil]

It is tempting to pick up where you left off, at Quinto do Tedo.
But first I'll start with tasting notes from that day.

Please do I love Tedo, great place, wines and Ports. They continue to get better and better every year.

[Roy Hersh]

Eric,

If you do not plan to do our next to last day, I will post it by this evening, PT time.

[Eric Menchen]

So I did not take travel notes during our trip, but did take pictures along with tasting notes of the Ports. Here's my take on Friday, day 6 of the tour.

We began our adventures with a hop across the Douro and a short trip downstream to the confluence of the Rio Tedo for a visit to Quinta do Tedo. This 14 hectare property sits right on the water, with a few plots growing Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional on a tiny spit surrounded by the Tedo. Other plots extend up the east hillsides, but never reach above 160 meters. (Despite the low altitude, the vineyards are "A" graded.) These are planted with old field blends, Sousão, Tinta Cão, Touriga Franca, more Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional, as well as olive trees for a small bit of olive oil production.

We were warmly greeted by Kay, who along with husband Vincent Bouchard, own the quinta. Kay is from California, and Vincent comes from the Bouchard family that has been making wines in France for eight generations. Roy has met either Kay or Vincent on multiple previous trips, but noted this was the first time he was there when both of them were there as well. Vincent does wine consulting around the world, with a lot of his efforts focused on cooperage and use of barrels in the winery, and the family actually lives in the Chianti area of Italy. So it was a treat to meet with both of them.

A short tour of the property followed. The winery is small and generally typically, with cement lagares, modern machinery for processing the grapes, a cellar full of barrels, pipas, tonéis, balseiros, and bottles of past vintages aging for future release. One thing we did see that was fairly atypical, as I only recall seeing them elsewhere at Graham's, Quinta do Tedo has a row of cement tonéis used for aging wines. These generally fell out of use when people began to better understand the reactions of cement with wine, but are now being used again after being lined with epoxy. Before doing this, the Bouchards first split some of the larger tonéis into smaller sections so they could make more varieties of wines. Before they bought the property in 1992, it produced juice for the bigger shippers. Now they produce a variety of Ports as well as a number of Douro DOC wines and olive oil under the Quinta do Tedo label.

Vincent joined us after our tour and lead our tasting, which included:

• 2003 Quinta do Tedo LBV
• 1997 Quinta do Tedo Vintage Port
• 1999 Quinta do Tedo Vintage Port
• 2011 Quinta do Tedo Vintage Port
• Quinta do Tedo 10 Year Old Tawny Port
• Quinta do Tedo 20 Year Old Tawny Port

As my tasting notes indicate, all of these were quite tasty. What really stood out for me was how approachable all the young VPs were. You can very well enjoy all of these today.

Vincent provided a lot of insight into the wines during the tasting, but this was just the beginning of his sharing of a wealth of knowledge. Our tasting was followed by light appetizers along with a pink Port spritzer out on the patio, and then a hearty lunch featuring you guessed it ... bacalhau. We had bacalhau with just about every meal of the trip, but prepared differently each time, and today was no exception. The bacalhau was breaded with a large crumbly crust and baked to perfection. Along with lunch we tasted numerous Quinta do Tedo wines for which I did not take notes. I simply enjoyed them while taking in all that Vincent had to say about the property, producing wines, and how barrels fit in here and elsewhere. I do recall that the quinta reds were all quite good. And we started with a white or two which did not come from the property (the low altitude and warm temperatures are not particularly suited to white varietals), but which I think they produce with a non-quinta label. Perhaps Roy can correct me and fill in some of the details here.

After filling our bodies with food, drink, and knowledge, we left the quinta as grapes from the harvest were coming in and being processed. We would return to our hotel for a sojourn before returning back to the Tedo for our next visit of the day.

[Eric Menchen]

Outside, with the Douro in the background.

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A lucky dog, taking in the Rio Tedo with Quinta do Tedo vinyards to the left, and off in the distance is Quinta do Napoles, our later stop of the day.

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And here's a map of the vineyards.

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[Eric Menchen]

The lagares are empty here ...

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... but the harvest is coming in.

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The cement tonéis.

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[Eric Menchen]

Balseiros and pipas (or maybe just regular sized barrels).

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And Vintage Port aging in bottles.

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Looking across the river towards Quinta do Crasto.

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[Eric Menchen]

Vincent prepares for the tasting.

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And shares his knowledge over lunch.

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Me with Vincent and his lovely wife Kay. In addition to other work, Kay maintain's the quinta's blog.

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[Glenn E.]

Very nicely written, Eric! Love the pictures!

[John M.]

Amazing pictures...thanks!!

[Andy Velebil]

Nice write up. Kay and Vincent (and their kids..I've met two of the three) are wonderful people and gracious hosts. I've stayed at their B&B on property a couple of times now as well as been there more times. They have steadily gotten better and better over the years. They dry wines are really taking off in terms of quality.

If anyone is looking for a good centralized location in the Douro, between Regua and Pinhao, Tedo is a good place to look at. Makes getting around either direction very easy.

[Eric Menchen]

Part two of our Friday adventure took us back to the Tedo, this time just a little further upstream. A mere 900 meters south of Quinta do Tedo, on the west side of the river, lies Quinta do Napoles, a production facility of Niepoort wines. While you get some idea that this place is big upon approach, it is built half into the hillside, disguising its true size. But first, we were met by FTLOP member Frédérick Blais who was working at Niepoort during the harvest. He lead us to the reception area, constructed in one of the older buildings of the property, where we were joined by the head winemaker, Carlos Raposo. Carlos first took us into the not-so-secret cellar of the reception area, through a trap door in the floor.

After exploring the cellar, Carlos lead us on a journey through the rest of the facility, during which we began to take in just how huge this place really is. Trucks bring grapes from the roads into the top level, what looks like a partially covered parking area. From there they are sorted and prepped for winemaking and dumped through one of several holes apparently in the ground, but really into the next level of the facility. Below the holes, a stainless steel funnel of sorts with a pivoting spout allows the grapes to be dumped into any of many different vessels for primary fermentation, some featuring pneumatic rakes to punch down the cap. While the harvest was really just getting underway at Tedo, here the harvest was nearly complete, with many of the vats filled with must, and some already emptied ... to the next level of the facility below, secondary storage/fermentation.

Here, we began to taste. Carlos poured from various tanks, some vinho branco not even fully fermented, some fully fermented but aging in steel, the Redoma and Batuta in the making (?) ... these were all really interesting to taste. I began to notice the rough stone walls on one side of the building as we went down into the next level, the cellar where wine is aging in all shapes and sizes of barrels and tanks. Carlos pulled samples from barrels, and we were getting into some nice wines. As we headed out, Carlos explained the construction. The facility is built into the side of the hill to take advantage of the earth for temperature control. They have some ventilation systems to move the air around, but for the most part, the cellars take care of themselves. We headed back up for our formal tasting, and tried:

• 2011 Niepoort LBV
• 2015 Niepoort Cask Sample Port
• 2005 Niepoort Vintage Port
• 2005 Niepoort Colheita Port
• A blind wine, revealed to be 1978 Niepoort Vintage Port

And after that, we headed to dinner.

[Eric Menchen]

View from the cellar of the reception area looking up. I did however, flip the image so you can read it. In reality it is oriented for reading from above, not below.

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This is shot from the secondary level of the facility, and shows the primary. You can also just make out some of the stone between those tanks.

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That's a big control panel. My brewing friends would be jealous. On the other hand, when a brewery gets this big in the states, they usually go to a computer controlled system. But there is something nice about PID controllers.

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[Eric Menchen]

Here we are inside the building, as Carlos explains the temperature control.

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Outside after our tasting.

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And looking back towards the Douro, with Quinta do Tedo visible just a little right of center of the frame.

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[Eric Menchen]

And in case you were confused above, maybe these pictures will help.

This is the chute that directs the grapes from the holes in the ceiling into the vats. It pivots 360 degrees and runs on tracks.

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And on the ceiling here are the tracks, and you can kind of make out the holes in the ceiling. They show a little grape stain around them. There's one just above Mario's head.

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[Eric Menchen]

Our Friday Trilogy concluded with a meal at DOC, and what a wonderful meal it was. Roy and I brought a few bottles, and Niepoort made sure none of us went home thirsty. DOC supplied a very nice meat course, several small bites and palate cleansers, and the best polvo (octopus) I've ever had. It was deliciously tender. They also supplied the wine decanters, which you'll see below are quite the showpieces. Here's the beverage lineup:

• 2013 Niepoort Dócil
• 2002 William Fèvre Valmur Chablis Grand Cru
• 2014 Niepoort Redoma Branco
• 2014 Odell Friek
• 2012 Niepoort Batuta
• 2013 Niepoort Charme
• 1997 Ridge Geyserville
• 1978 Niepoort Vintage Port
• 1983 Niepoort Vintage Port
• Niepoort 20 Year Old Tawny, bottled 1983

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[Eric Menchen]

At DOC ...

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