Two days in the Douro

I am on my way to the Douro to join a group of British wine writers as guests of Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership, owners of Taylor’s, and his wife Natasha. The grape harvest is in full swing and I pass small trucks laden with baskets of grapes. My destination, Quinta de Vargellas, the flagship estate of Taylor’s, famed for its vintage ports.

Quinta de Vargellas in the wild, remote countryside of the Alto Douro is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognizing man’s transformation of this hilly area, characterized by poor, dry soil, into a remarkable wine-producing region of terraced vineyards. Burningly hot, there are few humans and little water for the vines. At sundown, we take a short boat trip along the Douro River to view the contours of the estate. High above us, the dry stone walls of the property’s oldest terraces form the ‘Vinha Velha’, where many of the vines are a hundred years old. Bridge points out two nests perched on the rock face – golden eagles – as we taste Taylor’s Chip Dry White Port and tonic with roasted almonds from the property.

Quinta de Vargellas

Later, from the Quinta’s terrace, we watch the day’s last train chug along the riverbank, stopping at the tiny station of Vargellas. On the opposite side of the river, the Symington’s estate Quinta dos Canais is within wine-spitting distance. Back in the day, you could catch a train in Porto and travel all the way to Paris, via Vargellas! In the middle of the last century, the Douro was transformed from a fast-flowing, often perilous river into a series of calm lakes by a Salazar regime programme of hydroelectric dams, designed to reinforce the country’s energy independence. Some of the property’s lower vineyards were flooded and permanently lost to production.

Adega da Quinta da Nogueira

At Quinta de Vargellas, grapes are still foot-trodden in granite lagars. Known as the corte, this is intended to provide gentler extraction of the grape juice. Bacchus is thinking of us, as this evening is the first corte of the harvest. Undaunted by their long day in the vineyard, pickers shed shoes, wash feet and jump enthusiastically into the grape must. Although not quite Trooping the Colour, the corte is conducted with military precision under the unforgiving eye of a ‘sergeant major’, and it lasts for three hours. After a memorable al fresco dinner, paired with a succession of wines and aged Tawnies, our sated party of journalists, accompanied by the Bridges, walk to the winery for the really fun part of the corte – dancing to an accordion. As Bridge has told us, “everything we foot-tread could become Vintage Port»”, we go for it. This writer’s calves retain a striking red berry colour for the remainder of the trip.

The next morning, we’re off to the Nogueira winery. Opened in 2001, Nogueira is the main winery for all Taylor’s port. At 650 metres, the air is cooler, important for alleviating ‘Douro bake’. This year’s harvest will last for seven weeks, a period that requires logistical acrobatics (what to pick when with whom), winemaking skill and inevitably a bit of luck. In addition to their own vineyards, Taylor’s partner with 22 farmers who supply the firm with their best grapes, benefitting in return from Taylor’s sharing best practices in viticulture that emphasize low-intervention dry farming. The winemaking team, led by Technical Director and Head Winemaker David Guimaraens, are feeling upbeat: this year’s crop is a ‘normal’ size after six years of low yields.

The Douro’s vineyards are a hard call to farm. Yields per hectare are low and the hilly topography often does not permit mechanization. Labour costs and availability currently drive efficiency in the vineyard, while wineries are ramping up ‘industrialization’ of winemaking processes. Overall sales of port have decreased in recent years, affected by the competing popularity of other drinks categories. The leading port shippers believe the way forward is upwards – not only ‘up the hill’ to plant fresher vineyards, but equally through making premium ports.

Quinta da Roêda

First launched back in 1970, Taylor’s Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) port is often considered port’s ‘saviour’ after the difficult decades between the Great Depression of the 1930s and port’s post-World War Two recovery in the 1960s. LBV offers simultaneously good value to the consumer and the possibility for the producer to combine volume and margin. Today, in addition to its exceptional Vintage Ports, the company has a dynamic aged Tawny programme. Unlike Vintage Ports, these aged Tawnies, with their complex flavours of nuts, dried fruits and spices, do not require decanting. The Fladgate Partnership’s port brands, which include Taylor’s, Croft’s and Fonseca, account for about one third of the total market for premium port.

Wine writer Richard Mayson, a distinguished expert on the wines of Portugal and part of our small group, wrote in 1998, “the Douro is a place for travellers, not tourists – there is nowhere to stay”. Today, nothing could be further from the truth. Last year, Croft’s Quinta da Roêda, overlooking the Douro River outside Pinhão, welcomed 140,000 visitors. Visits are cleverly tailored to provide experiences for groups alongside more intimate encounters for couples that include picnics. Quinta da Roêda is opposite The Fladgate Partnership’s Vintage House Hotel, a comfortable wine hotel base from which to explore the Douro.

Quinta de Vargellas – Pickers picking grapes

The Pinhão Valley can perhaps be described as the heartland of Port vineyards. The Fladgate Partnership owns the largest vineyard holding for port production in the valley, counting among its neighbours Quinta do Noval, Niepoort, Symington’s and Wine & Soul. One such vineyard is Quinta de Terra Feita, bought in the mid-1970s as part of a strategy continued today to control the production and quality of Taylor’s Vintage Ports from vine to bottle.

In a future article I will describe the second stage of our trip, my night at the sumptuous Yeatman hotel in Porto, and a visit to The Fladgate Partnership’s recently acquired dry and sparkling wine vineyards in Bairrada and the Minho.

First published Portugal Resident September 2024