Porto again very soon. and nothing planned yet! (live report :-) )

[Bert VD]

the day ended with another wonderful dinner at Mesao Provesende.
and again Ronald didn't dissapoint. Odisseia rose, some reds, Kopke Fine White, Niepoort Colheita 1995, Warre's Cavadinha 2001 VP and the leftover from yesterdays Junco 1995 VP. life is pretty good in the Douro

this was the view accross the river Tedo today. tomorrow i will visit Quinta do Tedo and later Quinta das Amendoeiras.

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[Paul C. Metman]

Hi Bert,
It was a great pleasure to meet you so unexpectedly in Provesende! Dining on monday and tuesday ( in fact everyday) was an unforgettable experience, thanks to the wonderfull cooking of Jet, the great wines Ronald made taste us and the lively discussions between (among others....) Ronald, you and me. As you rightly said, the Niepoort LBV '95, Passadouro Touriga Franca '13 and Quinta do Junco VP '95 stood out for me as well. Hope to meet you again, in Provesende, Belgium or Holland at a port event. Thank you also very much for your very interesting report and the beautifull pictures. Lots of fun at Tedo!

[Andy Velebil]

Bert,
Fantastic you ended up meeting another 'er. I love this community! Wonderful recap which I have enjoyed reading.

[Bert VD]

i'm back home in my own sofa now. time for the last part:

at Quinta Do Tedo they called the tour a technical visit and so next to a bit of background information on the brand we got to see the actual work being done.
but you need people in the tour asking questions or it will stay at a very basic level. at the tasting i had the normal red, reverva (both 2014 i think, now i'm doubting if it was 2013) fine tawny, 2011 LBV and 2013 VP. and while i usually prefer ruby's i liked the fine tawny the most from this list. the LBV and VP have this kind of cherry jam that's a bit too present for me. but again a nice conversation with others at the table made for a very enjoyable experience.

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the cap over the neck of the bottle is fitted

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and the stencils are painted by hand as well

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[Bert VD]

from Tedo i drove to Quinta das Amendoeiras where i was invited by Mario Negreiros to hitch a ride on his new boat (new old boat ) and a duck rice dinner.

to go there i passed by Bom Retiro and Ventozelo up to where the landscape changes dramatically from the schist rocks to granite boulders scattered over the mountains. it's a desolate but very beautiful landscape. i didn't make pictures of that as i was concentrated on staying on the bendy steep roads...

i was welcomed by 3 large dogs (if you ever go there; Blits tends to 'smile' showing his teeth but he's a nice dog and will follow you around if he gets attention) at the house before we went down to the water. during the boatride Mario explained that the quinta and winery was where the Cockburn ports were made before they acquired Canais just a bit further away. DOW's Senhora Da Ribeira is right next door, Vesuvio is on the other side of the river. a long time ago before the dams were made in the river the lower parts of the quinta (now under water) had the grapes and where the vinyard is now was mostly planted with almond trees.
talking about this we realized that when the water was wild the wines were transported by boats and brave men and after the river was 'domesticated' and the water was much easier to navigate they started transporting the wines with trucks.

we went upstream to a part of the river where nature can do it's thing. the river is more narrow and there are no vinyards or olive trees on the shore. it is truly stunning. further up the river there is a small island (Scorpion Island if i understood it right) and around the bend is Quinta do Vale Meao.

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i also tried a panorama picture and kept it large so you have to scroll, i think it's better this way. (sorry admins!)

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[Bert VD]

back at the quinta i got a tour of the winery and house. Mario plans to get some tourists out there and could maybe pick them up by boat at one of the nearby train stations. the quinta certainly has some good things going like a beach and a beautiful terrace overlooking the garden. the hous itself is big and hosts some of the people working there during harvests. it's very basic for now and has a hippy feeling that i really like with some musical instruments laying around and comfy sofa's.

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when Mario strated preparing dinner i got to try a super fruity 2017 wine straight from the steel vat (mostly or uniquely Touriga Nacional i believe) while he had the typical winemakers drink: beer.
then i moved on to the 2015 Reverva. a very young wild wine that needs a few more years to calm down and really shine. (there are no Negreiros ports, the port grapes go to Quevedo)

then something special came out. a Douro wine that can not get any more Douro. it's a 2009 that has aged several years under water in a big tank (used to water the garden) with water that is pumped up from the river. this experiment resulted in a bunch of mud and algae covered bottles that took ages to clean.
the wine has aged slower than the bottles that were stocked in normal conditions but after a few years out of the water they became impossible to tell apart again. so unless you want wine to age slow there is no use in stroing them under water. you'll just have more work to clean the bottles
the wine however was very good and i enjoyed it a lot during dinner.

after syaing goodbye the next hour and a half i spent navigating mountain roads in pitch black darkness to get back to Provesende. a good way to end a pretty decent improvised vacation.

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[Roy Hersh]

Hi Bert,

Glad you got to meet Paul M., a really great guy!! The coincidence and way you met was pretty funny, too.

Mario Negreiros I have not seen in six years, but I've been to his home and hung out with he and his wife. Unfortunately, the weather was not good that day, so no sail boat ride on the Tagus River near where he lives (Belem/Lisbon). Anyway, I hope some day he starts to make some Ports because I have really enjoyed his Douro wines.

Great report and a fun read; thanks!

Roy