Original Post in a Portuguese Forum (Nova-Critica)
PRESS RELEASE
Quinta de Roriz: João van Zeller and Cristiano van Zeller associate themselves
João van Zeller announced today a partnership with his cousin Cristiano van Zeller, with the aim of giving a new impetus to the project's Quinta de Roriz, a mythical property Douro, now in the seventh generation in direct line held by the same family.
This new chapter of the Quinta de Roriz is a test of reversing the trend of concentration of the Port Wine and the Douro. It is another example of sustainability among the pioneers of the great red wines Douro DOC the last 10/12 years, through the medium-sized companies. These new "players" have undoubtedly a very vitality and a perception reinforced for the Demarcated Region of the Douro and for the brand Douro.
This step takes place on a stage of maturity of the Project of the Quinta de Roriz, when the processes of production and winemaking are fully integrated, after voluminous made investments in vineyards and winemaking stores, which optimized a property whose natural beauty is unreplicable.
The perfection of their vineyards agronomic and quality of its wines have contributed to a strong national and international perception of brands and wines, Roriz. The Quinta de Roriz Reserva 2004 returned a few days the second place among the top 30 Douro wines Portuguese and Spanish Duero, with 94 points, in a blind test held in Madrid by the most reputable experts from both countries. It was the best ranked Portuguese wine.
This new association aims at strengthening the identity of the Quinta de Roriz and its wines DOC Douro and Vintage Port, as well as the effectiveness of their distribution. It will also strengthen the component family van Zeller as a centre core of the history of the Fifth.
The new team will work with the Quinta de Roriz is led by Cristiano van Zeller and Sandra Tavares da Silva, whose sole responsibility now is the harvest of 2008.
The talent with which Cristiano van Zeller and Sandra Tavares da Silva has contributed to the national and international recognition in the region of the Douro, and the rise meteórica the high quality of wines Reds DOC Douro reference, provides an important added value for Thursday, Roriz.
I'm not fully up to speed on EU wine subsidies, but I have a strong suspicion that the rush to invest in Douro table wine production is not a consequence of strong market demand, but the exploitation of the subsidy regime.
Making table wines from vines that should be used for port production is not a trend I welcome..
This bodes well for Roriz. They've been making excellent porto and table wine for a while now and Cristiano is one of the most experienced and talented winemakers in Douro. I'm excited.
Tom - So far Roriz has been able continue to produce their VP with seemingly no drop in quality while they produce very good table wine. Since the early '90s when they decided to market their own VP after being content to just sell their juice to others for many years, this generation of van Zellers hasn't let greed get in the way of quality. In a plentiful year they release perhaps 2000 cases of VP. In most years, it's probably something like 750 to 1500 cases.
I think instead of releasing 40,000 cases of ruby porto, it's better to release a limited run of VP and some good table wine. Just my preference.
