Eating in Douro Valley

Food in Douro Valley

The Douro river inspires all

Last month I wrote about food at our quinta, and I would like to extend the topic to food in the Douro.  Now this is very subjective, and I am not native to the region.  But I know and am passionate about good food, so I will take my chances and share with you a mere glimpse of culinary possibilities in the Douro, and will focus on bolas and 2 restaurants, to tease your palate and to inspire you to come and visit!

Every culture has a bread-based speciality; pâté en croûte in France, pizza in Italy, pasties in England, empanadas in Spain and BOLA in Portugal!  In the Douro bolas vary from town to town, bakery to bakery, home to home.  An egg and olive-oil based bread dough, filled with a myriad of stuffings from simple ham, ham and cheese, or ham, chicken and bacon to the more oh! so! savory stuffings of  bacalhau, sardines, or chicken, ham or bacon layered with slowly sautéed onions, black pepper and bay laurel, in sufficient olive oil, of course!   We serve small squares of bola during our guided port tastings and they disappear in no time.

Tucked away behind the marketplace of Regua is Cacho D’Oiro, simply decorated inside with enlarged black and white period photos of the port trade in the Douro, and with an ever so pleasant staff and owner Avelino Pereira there for you.  A favorite of ours since we bought the quinta in 1992, especially for a specialty picanha com feijão brasileiro, an aged rump steak, grilled whole on a spit with the thick layer of fat downside so most melts away and flavors the cut, seasoned with coarse sea salt, served tableside, sliced before you and others at your table and then brought back for additional grilling to repeat the process and the dining experience goes on and on…...  Served with black beans, carioca, sautéed bananas, rice, hand-cut french fries and a salad of greens, tomatoes and onions.  With a Douro DOC red wine you will think that you have gone to Heaven!

5 minutes from our quinta is D.O.C., a trendy and modern restaurant on a dock at Folgosa, where tradition successfully meets modernity in Portuguese cuisine with panache and skill.   Gorgeous location, with stunning views of the steep terraced vineyards meeting the Douro river.  Try the codfish with broa, shrimp with caril, pork cheeks with wild mushroom açorda (bread soup), serra cheese with Touriga Nacional marmalada and olive oil sorbet for dessert.  The place has a wonderful upbeat feel to it, the menu is seasonal, and you will be guided effortlessly by the staff.

Would you like more impressions of and tips for Douro Valley’s food?  Just let me know, send a comment and I will follow up in another blog in the future.

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Food at the quinta

When we first bought the quinta in 1992, in addition to being self sufficient in vegetables, fruit, olive oil, wine and of course port, we also had chickens, roosters, ducks and pigs.  We slaughtered 2 pigs a year, and always had legs hanging to season in the kitchen’s enormous chimney. Fowl was prepared in a myriad of ways and had flavor!  Vegetables were seasonal and picked fresh in the morning to be served at lunch.  I loved this ambiance, being a Californian who had never lived on a working farm, such as our quinta. Our children had a ball running around, being dirty most of the time, exploring and being part of the quinta in action.  Feeding the feathered animals and pigs was a highlight, and they would excuse themselves from the table to run outside with kitchen scraps and breadcrumbs to offer.  Of course they would much rather do that than to sit down and eat!  I remember one day at lunch when my then 3 year-old daughter Odile, looking at the steaming tray of rice with meat waiting to be served, asked “Mamma, where’s da red rooster dat I fed dis morning?”  You can only imagine! We no longer have these farm animals but we do boast home-grown seasonal vegetables, from tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, potatoes, beans, lettuce and one vegetable that finds its way into almost every meal….cabbage!  Oranges, tangerines, lemons and almonds also abound, and the cornucopia overflows.

The cabbage family dominates

Onions.....

Garlic.........

and potatoes go hand in hand

At Quinta do Tedo we do not have tractors to work the land, as mentioned in a previous blog, we have a horse and around 6 workers, in addition to our cook, manager/winemaker, assistant winemaker, tour guide, and occasional extra help, that mushrooms into a crew of 25 at harvest!  We have 2 meals a day for those who toil outside; a “snack” at 10 AM; typically soup, potatoes, grilled sardines or another protein source and at 1 PM; a proper hot lunch, starting with soup, following varies from baccalhau or fish, to grilled pork ribs, roasted chicken or braised beef to feijoada (a bean stew with pig ears, tripe and sausage), always accompanied by rice, pasta, beans or potatoes.  A full stomach=a happy worker is a saying that we believe in.  Our table wine is for all, mais bien sûr!  The vineyard workers have one room and the large kitchen is where we eat, together with the winemakers, the tour guide, and any visiting friends, family or business connections.  Lunch is the time to sit down and talk and to be together.

When people ask me how is the food at our quinta, given that I am not Portuguese, I generally respond that it is, in a nutshell, “simple, yet very flavorful”.  Now “simple” is very subjective.  The methods of making many dishes at the quinta are not simple, they take time; dishes simmer for hours on the stovetop or roast in the oven, meat and fish are marinated before grilling, discreet herbs and spices are used.  Ours is a working farm, the cook prepares for everyone, no one dish “jumps out” at you, flavors are harmonious.  The core ingredients are genuine, because for the most part they come from our land.  Our olive oil is soft and delicious, our table wine has a hint of port in the bouquet and is round and inviting in the mouth, and the port speaks for itself.

Life is good at the quinta and we are so lucky to be here.

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2009 in review and more....

With the holiday season upon us and another decade around the corner it is a good time to reflect on highlights of 2009 and of the decade that we will shortly bid “adieu” to. 2009:

- Among many international awards received for both our portos and table wines, Decanter lavished Quinta do Tedo with “International Trophy Best Blend” and “Best of Northern Portugal” for our Douro DOC 2007 red table wine, a lusciously round and mouth filling wine that sells at a very decent price.

- Aging cellar enlarged with 2 x 7500L new upright French oak tanks, for aging our Vintage, LBV, Tawny and Ruby ports.

- After a long process we have permits in hand to start the quinta’s restoration, that will include an apartment for guests.  Permits to build a new wine facility are close to approval, a challenging process since the Douro Valley is a UNESCO world heritage sight and the Tedo river is an ecological reserve.

Quinta do Tedo from Douro

For the decade:

2008 - All public places at the quinta paved in traditional granite cobblestones

2007 -1^st full-time tour guide hired

2006 - Process begins to go organic

2005 - Large tasting room finished and Tawny, Douro DOC’s Reserva and Grande Reserva added to product line

2004 - Small tasting room finished and direct shipment begins

2003 - Hugo Fonseca joins Quinta do Tedo as Assistant Winemaker and 1^st Douro DOC red table wine made

2002 - 4 traditional 5500L rotating stainless steel tanks purchased for Douro DOC red table wine program

2001 - Reconstruction and modernization of concrete tanks for Porto storage

2000 - ha/2.2 acres of Touriga Nacional planted

I already know what will be an important highlight of 2010: we will complete the 4-year process to become organic, to replace our current “protection raisonable” status. We are thrilled to start the restoration that will only improve Quinta do Tedo’s standards, not to mention enlarging to have guests!

Come and visit

WE TOAST TO YOU WITH A GLASS OF QUINTA DO TEDO PORTO AND WISH YOU ALL HAPPY HOLIDAYS WITH LOVED ONES, PEACE ON EARTH AND GOODWILL TO ALL!

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Harvest 2009 Reflections

Dear all, I have received repeated requests for Quinta do Tedo’s impression of harvest 2009, so here goes after consulting Vincent and Jorge…..

Time to harvest

Harvest 2009 - Started 3 weeks earlier than normal on 25 August for some older parcels, due to a 40°C/105°F week-long heat wave combined with drying winds in August.  Luckily we had a “cooler” July than usual (with even miraculous precipitation) that allowed the younger more resistant vines to mature slowly and to not stress.  Due to 35/40% less rainfall this year we have 30/35% less fruit, with 3 positives: concentration, acidity and sugar.  2009 will be a very good Douro DOC year, too early to predict if a “classic” or “normal” Vintage year, will be very good LBV and top base for Ruby and Tawny.

Grapes in baskets

Here are Jorge's comments:

“Douro: mature, level-headed grapes, with good acidity, minerality and fragrances gave rise to grand, intensely fruited, velvety wines; silky tannins,  good structure to grow old or to be appreciated in the near years. Marvellous wines."

Port: very mature grapes; balanced, healthy, they gave rise to concentrated, rich Ports in fragrances, tastes and tannins, able to support the aging in the near decades. A special year."

Cheers! “

Gorgeous!

All in all, sounds pretty good, eh?

I wish all a happy Thanksgiving in the company of loved ones.  A glass of Quinta do Tedo port would be a dream with a piece of pumpkin, mince and apple pie!

Liquid gold

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Why foot treading?

A dear friend Francoise asked me the above, so here we go with an answer…. Since sweet port is made from partial fermentation, to save the residual sugar that comes from our grapes, the maceration that puts the juice in contact with the grape’s skin (that obtain flavor, tannins and color) is reduced to 3 or 4 days.  In this short lapse of time we need to extract as much as we can from the skin.  This is why we foot tread.   The foot treading is very soft, like a massage for the grapes; 4 hours a day with an equivalent of 1 worker per 650 kgs/1430 lbs of grapes in an open tank called a lagare.  The feet of the workers are obviously clean and disinfected, no need to worry!  Foot treading disintegrates gently all the skin and liberates all the above mentioned components of the skin.  During foot treading the foot activity does not extract only from the grape’s skin, but also from the matured brown grape pits, by rolling under the feet, that liberates a very thin skin around the pits, called by my husband “pellicule”, that is very rich in aromas and soft tannins.

Get the beat

Disco line dancing

Mechanical foot treading, on the other hand, if not properly adjusted, which is often the case, will aggressively break the pits, releasing the pit’s oil and green vegetable-like drying astringency, that will be bad for the port’s flavor.  Today none of the mechanical foot treaders can do a better job than what has been used for centuries; workers treading back and forth, sometimes to the accompaniment of an accordionist, sometimes playing games and taking a swig of port from a big carafe to pass the time away, and during this time gently extracting the components that make a world class port, as is the case at Quinta do Tedo.  Not only is our prestigious Vintage made this way, but all of our ports, due to the small dimension of our quinta and thanks to the number of workers and visitors that volunteer to foot tread.  If you have never tried, it is an unforgettable good time, let us know if you would like to come for a harvest and help out!

Somewhat serious

Let's Party!

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Vine survival at Quinta do Tedo

The definition of weather in the Douro valley is “3 months of winter and 9 months of hell” (!), to describe the short winters and the intense heat and drought the rest of the year. At Quinta do Tedo we dry farm* and, with annual rainfall being 50cm or 19.5in, the maximum amount of rain needs to be saved for the vine’s survival.  At Quinta do Tedo we achieve this, thanks largely to our schist soil and terraced vineyards supported by our beautiful stone walls. Our vineyards are classified “A”, Douro D.O.C. appellation’s most prestigious rating on a scale of A to F, equivalent to Grand Cru in Burgundy (my husband keeps me abreast of the similarities between Burgundy and the Douro!).  Schist soil is de rigueur for the best Port, and simply put is flaky decomposed slate.  Our vineyard’s 20-30cm/8-12” schist topsoil, with a smattering of rocks, blankets the deeper slate layers growing obliquely down to the earth’s center.  This powdery topsoil acts like a sponge during the short and intense winter rains, allowing the rain to slowly descend between the schist and slate layers to the water table.  The ancestors of Quinta do Tedo, to prevent erosion during the rainy season, used extracted schist rocks to build strong wide and high “dry” walls (no cement to reinforce).  These walls allow for the rainwater to gently seep down from one terrace to the next, replenishing a water table that plays such a vital role in the vine’s survival.

The vine’s roots grow deep down between the cracked slate to access the water table’s humidity.  Some of our older vines go down as far as 25m/80ft!  It is during the intense and long hot summer months that the water table comes to the vine’s rescue, and the humidity pushes upwards through the slate’s crevices, a respite to the vine’s thirst, explaining how our vineyards can possibly survive and even remain green in the Douro, without rain for months at a time and when sweltering temperatures over 40C/105F can be routine in the summer.

In the past 15 years many traditional stone walls have been torn down and replaced by “patamares”, the wall-less wide terraces put in by enormous earth- moving caterpillars, that were largely funded by the World Bank after Portugal’s entrance in 1986 to the EEC, in hopes to find a mechanized and cost-effective way to “tame” the challenging steepness of the Douro. No thought was given to the resulting erosion that is found today in many of these patamares vineyards.  At Quinta do Tedo we continue to rely on our 4 km/2.4 miles in total length of traditional stone walls, that need an upkeep of 300m/930ft in manual labor every year.  Oftentimes traditional ways survive for a reason and cannot be replaced by modern practices introduced by man’s hunger for fast return on investment.   Our vines know how to survive in the infernal conditions that Mother Nature can stow upon us, and thanks to her we have the ingredients to make world-class port and wine.

*Dry farm means no irrigation.  Vineyard irrigation is illegal in the Douro, as in other prestigious European appellations, except to establish new vines for the first 3 years.  At Quinta do Tedo we practice “emergency on-demand” manual watering, only during the hottest summer days for our young vines until  they are established.

PS Thanks Gretchen for the photo!

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