Sponsored Partnership by Quinta do Vallado
Established in 1716, Quinta do Vallado is one of the oldest and most famous estates in the Douro Valley. It belonged to the legendary Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira and remains to this day in the hands of her descendants. Since 2005, Quinta do Vallado can receive guests in its comfortable Wine Hotel. Winery guided tours are some of the activities they offer. It’s worth a visit to learn about the history of “The Ferreirinha” and how such iconic wines are produced. The best part? The full tasting of 9 wines at the end!
Join me on a winery tour and immerse yourself in the world of Portuguese wine tourism at this iconic vineyard.
Table of Contents
Wine Tourism: Guided Tour
Experience Highlights
- Guided visit to Quinta do Vallado, located in Peso da Régua, Vila Real;
- Full tasting of 9 wines (DOC and Port) from Quinta do Vallado;
- Experience for groups (4 minimum) and price is from €25.
The winery tour will take you through all the stages of transformation that Vallado’s grapes go through, from the vine to the bottle. The visit also includes a visit to the stunning barrel cellar, where the best wines age.
The visit starts in the wine house. A friendly guide makes a brief introduction about the history of Quinta do Vallado and the woman who made the port wine so famous internationally “A Ferreirinha”. Widowed twice, she decided to take the wine business on her own hands and dedicated her life to it.
In the old cellar, you’ll learn about the different types of Port Wine and how they’re produced and stored.
The visit then proceeded to the newer cellar built in 2009 which uses the most advanced technology, together with traditional winemaking methods. The grapes arrive packed in small boxes that avoid crushing and overheating, being dumped on a sorting mat that transports them to the stalk remover/crusher. They then fall by gravity into stainless steel fermentation vats, with programmable pumping over and automatic temperature control, where they remain for between 7 and 9 days, at temperatures ranging between 26 and 28 degrees. In some of the vats, a Robot is used that makes a mechanical tread.
A small percentage of the grapes are still crushed in granite vats, using the traditional method. Now that’s the funny part. Here they explain you about how local men, after the harvesting, come to crush the grapes with their feet (only the ones that can endure do this and there is a person always looking after in case they fall drunk and eventually die.)
Port Wine has a different treatment: brandy is added during fermentation. With excess alcohol in the must, fermentation stops, with no total transformation of sugar into alcohol. In the case of Adelaide Vintage Port, where a large extraction is intended, the grapes are crushed in granite vats with traditional foot treading.
Wine Tasting – World Class Wines
At the end of the visit, we’ve tasted a selection of wines from Quinta do Vallado, including White Wines, Red Wines and 2 Port Wines. In total there were 9 types.
The tasting was very nice and the guide managed to create a dynamic in which people communicated. She also gave her personal opinion about the wines, which I found very authentic as linking a wine is very personal and depends on our taste.
Wines available for this tasting:
Vallado Prima; Vallado Branco; Vallado Reserva White; Vallado Rose; Vallado Touriga Nacional; Vallado Sousão; Vallado Reserva Field Blend; Vallado Porto Tawny 10 years old; Vallado Porto Tawny 20 years old.
Location
Located on the banks of the Corgo River, a tributary of the Douro River, right next to its mouth and close to the town of Peso da Régua.
Final Thoughts
Whether you like wines or are just an avid curious, it’s worth to visit the heart of the Douro Valley, the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. Visitors of Quinta do Vallado will have the chance of getting to know first-hand one of the most advanced wineries in the region, born from an avant-garde architectural project and equipped with the most modern technology.