“A barrel is like a tea bag”……

…..“The first time used it is very powerful and each year the flavor decreases”.

Bird on barrel head

You know of Vincent as Quinta do Tedo’s owner, but let us say that his “daytime job” is 31 years of international wine industry consultation re: crafting world-class wines with wood aging in barrels, casks and tanks.  Who else to turn to but my husband when I write about our philosophy of wood aging for our ports and wines!

Barrels, pipas, casks and tanks, used for centuries as storage and shipping containers, have evolved into an integral component today for aging different wines and ports, playing a vital role in: 1) wood flavor extraction 2) micro-oxidation (breathing) through the wood and 3) aromatic concentration.

Barrels for our wine

For our table wines we use 225/228/300L barrels, mainly French oak but also a smattering of European (Tokaj) and American oak, for their different wood flavors, as well as for the breathing and the concentration. This is why we age the Douro DOC red wine in 25% new barrels, 25% barrels from 2 years, 25% barrels from 3 years and 25% neutral barrels.  The Reserva is aged in close to 100% new oak and the Grande Reserva in 100% new oak.  The time of aging is about 2 years, when the wine is ready for bottling.  The barrels are used as a vehicle to age the wine, not to mask the wine with oak flavors, but to heighten the wine’s elegance, structure and complexity.

Tanks for Ruby and Vintage

Our philosophy for port is not to use wood for aroma and flavor (the wooden containers are neutral in flavor) but as a vehicle to help port breathe and concentrate during the aging in wood, depending on the type of port.  The Ruby and Vintage are aged in large wooden tanks (from 5000 to 7000L), to help the port breathe but primarily to “capture” and retain the port’s fruit.  Our Ruby is aged for 2 years, the Finest Reserve Ruby for 3 years and the Vintage for 2 years before bottling.

For the Tawny and LBV the opposite is intended; to use smaller barrels, casks and pipas (from 225L to 550L) for a longer period of time, thats help the port slowly breathe through the porous wood, that in turn concentrates the port through water molecule evaporation, that then leads to “topping off” (adding more port to the barrel) that concentrates the port.  That is why a Tawny is always sweeter than a Ruby and a LBV is always sweeter than a Vintage.

That tea bag does work wonders, and our wine and port speak for themselves!

Vincent and harvest prep

Visitors have asked us the traditional Portuguese barrel, the pipa, is 550 liters, and has such an unusual shape?  I will talk about that in my next blog at the end of June.

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Tank Installation

Before the big push

This was a feat: installing a 7000 Liter tank with 3 cm on either side of the cellar’s entrance to spare!  The actual endeavor was close to a miracle, and we thank our lucky stars that we got the tank into the aging cellar, intact and without dismantling!  As you may know, in addition to the port and wine business, Vincent is also involved in the barrel business.   New and reconditioned oak tanks and barrels, mainly French, are an integral part of our port and wine’s quality.  Some of the larger tanks arrive disassembled, to be rebuilt inside the aging cellars by Vincent, Jorge and the quinta team.  We took our chances with this one, as you can see in the photo.

Unloading

Which of our ports age in the 7000 Liter tanks?  Ruby for a couple of years with different lots blended afterwards and Vintage for 18 months to 2 years.  Why such a big aging vessel?  We age with slow micro-oxidation, that softens the tannins yet saves the fruit and color, due to minimal contact between the Port and the wood.  This particular tank is from the prestigious French Troncais forest, and is an old reconditioned Cognac tank.  Our Quinta do Tedo policy is to have all ports foot treaded and aged in wood, for shorter or longer periods.  The Ruby is ready to enjoy after bottling, ad the Vintage generally is to lay down for further bottle aging.

Here it comes

In contrast, our Tawny and LBV spend longer periods of time in smaller barrels varying in size from 225L – 550L.   The Tawny ages up to 8 years and the LBV up to 6 years.  The focus is to accelerate micro-oxidation and concentration of aroma and sugar: smaller volume = more contact with wood, so that the fruit and tannins soften faster.  After bottling they are pronto for enjoying, but can also continue to age, especially the LBV.

At home in cellar

My next blog will talk about the wood that we use for aging at the quinta, a fascinating subject, especially because Vincent is so full of information after 30+ years of consulting internationally in the barrel business!

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Easter is coming....

Springtime walk

When I think about Easter holidays at the quinta, memories flood my mind.  The tapestry of blooming wildflowers, to include the blue of lupine, the red of clover, the yellow of buttercups, the white of field peas and etc reminds us that spring is really here, and this beautiful cover crop also replenishes nutrients to the soil.   With our menagerie of dogs, enjoyable walks are taken along the banks of the Tedo and beyond, listening to the song of the recently returned oenanthe leucura, aka black wheatear, the migratory bird that we proudly use for our quinta’s stylized logo.  Wild asparagus is foraged in the Mediterranean scrub around the quinta, by climbing over granite boulders to look for the spindly spears, destined to become part of a delicious meal. The grapevine’s buds develop and burst at this time, bidding adieu to winter’s dormancy as shiny green new growth takes over in the vineyard.   The natural light is special at this time of year, fresh and not too intense, yet hints at the heat that will soon arrive, so integral to make good port and wine here at Quinta do Tedo.

Easter egg hunt

Add to this the annual egg hunt on Easter morning, an American tradition, and guess where is a perfect hiding place for the decorated eggs….the olive tree!  Clever Easter bunny!  Afterwards we continue to celebrate the religious holiday feasting on leitão, or roast suckling pig or cabrito, roast young goat, garnished with creamed bitter turnip greens called nabica and the Portuguese tradition of serving both rice AND garlic potatoes, cooked in abundant olive oil from the quinta, all complemented by our Douro DOC.  A cheese course follows to introduce a LBV and dessert may be our winemaker’s wife’s delicious recipe for “Port Wine Cake” or my mother’s  tried and true recipe for “Citrus Surprise”, to enjoy together with our Tawny.  I will proudly share with you any of the above recipes, just send a request to my blog.

Easter week is also when the momentum of visitors coming to tour and taste picks up, after the long winter (and this winter has been especially long and wet).   We hope that one day soon we will have the pleasure of your visit at Quinta do Tedo.

Enjoy a glass!

Happy Easter to all, we wish you a wonderful time with loved ones together with an enjoyable glass of our port & wine.  Gretchen, thanks for the use of your fantastic photos!

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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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