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This is the thread I will use to post reports of visits to Quintas and Lodges from the Douro and VNG.

My confirmed Itinerary is as follows:

• Saturday 19 April 2008 - Douro Valley
  • Quinta de Pacheca
  • Quinta do Noval
  Sunday 20 April 2008 - Douro Valley
  • Quinta de la Rosa
  • Quinta do Passadouro
  • Quinta do Romaniera
  • Quinta do Panascal
  Monday 21 April 2008 - VNG
  • Graham's Lodge
  • Taylor Lodge
  • Niepoort Lodge

What ever you do, don't do the headset self tour at Panascal....I wanted to shoot myself 1/2 way through it.

ADV wrote:What ever you do, don't do the headset self tour at Panascal....I wanted to shoot myself 1/2 way through it.

Good advice. Thanks.

I slotted this one in myself as it's an open visitors centre and I really just want to see the Quinta. I may or may not do it depending on how long I spend at the other 3 that day.

Derek

Hmm... nice visits.
looking forward to read about you travel and visits.

Panascal is a quick visit, as the visitor center is really small and not much to see. But still fun to check out if you have time. However, if your short on time, this would be the one to skip.

Derek

Maximum respect this looks excellent!!

I would be really interested to hear about Quinta de Romaniera. Are you staying there for the night when in the Douro! Given the cheap flight!

Day 1

It is raining in Oporto.

However, I am at Gatwick waiting TAP flight 333 to Oporto at the delayed time of 2.30pm. The Ryanair flight from Stansted took off just as I was waking up on Tom's sofa at 6.30am. It seems Guinness, N58 and GM68 are not good things to have before an early flight.

Could Jdaw please create a suitable emoticon to sum up this level of stupidity?

Derek

Derek T. wrote:Day 1

It is raining in Oporto.

However, I am at Gatwick waiting TAP flight 333 to Oporto at the delayed time of 2.30pm. The Ryanair flight from Stansted took off just as I was waking up on Tom's sofa at 6.30am. It seems Guinness, N58 and GM68 are not good things to have before an early flight.

Could Jdaw please create a suitable emoticon to sum up this level of stupidity?

Derek

I will check to see if there is a Silly Arse emoticon available somwhere. (_?_)

Derek T. wrote:Day 1
I am at Gatwick waiting TAP flight 333 to Oporto at the delayed time of 2.30pm. The Ryanair flight from Stansted took off just as I was waking up on Tom's sofa at 6.30am. It seems Guinness, N58 and GM68 are not good things to have before an early flight.

Could Jdaw please create a suitable emoticon to sum up this level of stupidity?

Various emotions come running across my mind. In approximate order, these are:


So I wasn't far off my suggestion - that you left Tom's straight after finishing the port and catch a cab to the airport, arriving at Stansted around 2am for a 6am flight!

Hope you get there quickly and safely.

Alex

Derek T. wrote:at Gatwick waiting TAP flight 333 to Oporto at the delayed time of 2.30pm

Now shown by FlyTAP.com to be leaving at 3pm. Derek ought to be boarding about now. Someone get him out of the pub. Someone phone him perhaps?

jdaw1 wrote:

Derek T. wrote:at Gatwick waiting TAP flight 333 to Oporto at the delayed time of 2.30pm

Now shown by FlyTAP.com to be leaving at 3pm. Derek ought to be boarding about now. Someone get him out of the pub.

If he's not in the pub, try looking for a snoring heap on the kitchen floor...

You will all be pleased to know I made it onto the plane without falling asleep again.

This time I'm definitely going to porto, assuming its the right plane!

Derek T. wrote:Could Jdaw please create a suitable emoticon to sum up this level of stupidity?

A suggestion:



it may have been caused by this:

I'm here at last

Sun is shining.

The sun is shining where-ever you go, surely?

And, after that journey, you probably need a drink.

jdaw1 wrote:The sun is shining where-ever you go, surely?

Oooooh, I don't like "where-ever", what's wrong with "wherever"?

But I do like Derek's new title and piccie. Not sure if it's an improvement on Tracey or not, though.

Derek,

You missed your plane to the Holy Land...ARE YOU CRAZY

Darn light weight, he can't even have a little port and then get up in the morning

Today started out very badly but order has been restored.

I finally reached the Douro at 7.30pm. I had planned to have lunch with Karin Alvarez, who I met at Napoles in October, but that had been cancelled due to me being a Silly Arse. Karin very kindly invited me to have dinner at her house with a few friends. Just after I arrived the men returned from a local restaurant with a suckling pig and a crate of beer. Karin whiped up a fabulous risoto and we all say down to a great meal accompanied by Quinta do Vale Meo 05, an S Leonardo 30 year tawny and another tawny produced by a local farmer described as "between 30 and 50 yrs". All were wonderfull.

I am now at Quinta de la Rosa and sincerely hope I can wake up before my tour of the quinta at 9am

The weather in the Douro is awfull. Cold, windy and raining heavily.

Derek T. wrote: an S Leonardo 30 year tawny

OMG, that has to be the best 30 year I've ever had. It is mostly from 1 barrel from 1972!

Day 2

For the second morning in a row I awoke at 06:30. Today was a much better experience than yesterday as I could see the fish jumping for flies in the Douro from my bed

ADV wrote:

Derek T. wrote: an S Leonardo 30 year tawny

OMG, that has to be the best 30 year I've ever had. It is mostly from 1 barrel from 1972!

Indeed, a great port! That should have made your day a whole lot better! I hope you enjoy your programme today as well.

Quinta de la Rosa

I was given a tour of the Quinta by a young lady named Adelena who has worked for the family for 2 years. Adelena explained the history of the Quinta and showed me around the small winery.we then went into the fabulous little cellar which is packed with various sizes of oak casks and Pipes. The smell in these cellars always causes me to inhale deeply and enjoy the mixture of ancient oak and young and ageing wines. Fabulous.

The bulk of the cellar is occupied by large vats lying on their side and standing around 15 feet high. Perched on top of these were individual pipes, each branded with the name of a family member and a vintage year. Although stamped "vintage" these are Colheita that have been produced for various children in their birth year. It was nice to see these as it demonstrated the family nature of the business.

In the tasting room I was offered a Colheita 1997, the first to be produced for sale but not yet released, and the unfiltered LBV 2003.

The Colheita was pleasant but not stunning and I think could do with more years in wood to show it's best. The LBV was very good. A huge fruity beast of a wine with a lovely texture, lots of backbone and a nice lingering finish. Just what a man needs at 9.30am

On to Passadouro

No recap yet of the other activities? Don't tell me you've driven your car into the Douro because you fell asleep behind the wheel.

I envy your experience, but also cringe at the thought of your chat up lines with the young tour guide....

Have a good un.

:piginpoo:

I'm back at la Rosa after spending a fantastic afternoon in heaven.

Passadouro was great. I was given a personal tour by a very nice Dutchman named Ronald. He explained the history of the Quinta and the recent redevelopments that have now turned it into one of the nicest small Quintas I have seen.

We tasteda number of dry reds and young ports from casks. Yummy

We then moved inside the guesthouse where I was served the Passadouro infiltered ruby, which was excellent followed by 2 glasses served blind. I guessed one as an aged tawny and the other as a 90s VP, possibly Grahams. The first turned out to be Malvedos 92 - quite evolved for its age but beautifully smooth. The other was Vargellas 91. This was stunning. Thick, chewy and tannic. Perhaps they should have declared this instead of holding out for the big birthday in 92!

An excellent visit.

Next was Romaniera. I was met at the top of a hill by a guard. He walked me into a waiting room ith an umbrella over my head and then called the quinta. A few minutes later a 4x4 drove up with my tour guide and her driver. I then toured the new winery, which rivals Napoles for those who have seen it, and was then driven 6km along a cobbled road to the Quinta complex. I was then given a tour of the most fabulous hotel I have ever seen. Pictures will be posted when I get home. I was then given a tasting which included aged tawnies, Colheita, LBV and VP. All extremely enjoyable but note taking had gone from my mind at this point.

This is a truely stunning hotel. I'm going to sell the kids for medical experiments so that I can live there

Out for a big fillet steak and some port tonight.

Hope you are all having fun.

Derek

PS: went to Panascal. Great to see it but ADV was right.

PPS: weather very mixed. Very cold morning, wet afternoon, sunny and warm evening. It's a bit like being in Oban.

Derek is as happy as a pig in poo.
:piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun:
:sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::piginpoo:
:sun::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun::piginpoo:
:sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo:
:sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo:
:sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo:
:sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo:
:piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun:
:piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun:
:piginpoo::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun::piginpoo::sun::piginpoo::sun::piginpoo::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun:
:piginpoo::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun::sun::piginpoo::sun:
:piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::)
:):piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::):)
:):):piginpoo::piginpoo::sun::sun::sun::sun::sun::piginpoo::piginpoo::):):)
:):):):):piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::piginpoo::):):):):)

My blackberry can't cope with that but I'm sure it accurately reflects my current mood.

Derek

Good to hear you are having fun. Uh oh, no sun. There goes the 2008 theory!

Did you actually miss Pacheca AND Quinta do Noval too?

I did not see them in your report yet. Looking forward to see if you met Rute and your opinion.

Anyway, have a great rest of the trip!

From the number of wines reported on, it sounds like you have moderated your pace, what is going on? Tell those buggers to break out the good stuff for you!

There goes the 2008 theory!

Rain in April is not a death sentence. The winter rain was close to average, and probably a little short of the ideal, so a soaking now should be beneficial, setting the ground water levels up for the season. However, having rained most days this month (so far) there is probably no need of more.

Warm dry weather is forecast to return toward the end of the coming week, hopefully, that will become the norm thereafter.

The next big event on the calendar is the flowering and fruit set that occurs in a month's time. Here the definition of 'good' diverges - those who seek quantity want this part of the season to pass off uneventfully, but good vintage years often suffer problems at this stage that reduce yield. Small crops have some history for being good crops, although there are exceptions.

Tom

What a busy day I've had!

Left Pinhao at 7:00 and drove, almost, straight to the Grahams lodge in VNG. I was given the normal tourist your by a nice young lady named Sara. She then took me to the new tasting bar in the main visitor tasting area and served me the following wines:

2 x white ports
Graham Six Grapes
Graham LBV 2001
Malvedos 1998
Graham 2000
Vesuvio 1994 x 3



More later, need to check in in case I miss my flight home

Taylor lodge VNG.

A non-standard personal tour from a man named Andrew. Taken to places that mere mortals like may rarely get to tread, including a VP cellar containing more bottles of VP than it is possible to imagine.

Tasted the following in the Tasting Room of the Fonseca lodge:

Croft Pink
Taylor chip dry
Taylor LBV 2002
Taylor 20 yrs
Vargellas 2005
Fonseca bin 27
Fonseca Organic
Fonseca 20 yrs
Panascal 2005

Excellent.

After that we went to the car park where Adrian Bridge, David Guimareans and Alistair Robertson debated with Andrew on how best to get me to the Niepoort lodge

Did you remember the corks?

Tom

uncle tom wrote:Did you remember the corks?

Tom

I did remember, but I past the shop 8 times and it was never open.

Derek

Derek, how did you like Pacheca wines and port? I really think think they are a secret kept in Portugal.

Frederick Blais wrote:Derek, how did you like Pacheca wines and port? I really think think they are a secret kept in Portugal.

Frederick,

Unfortunately I didn't make it to Pacheca for two reasons. Firstly because my appointment was cancelled the day before I arrived due to the Quinta being in a bit of a mess after a rainstorm and secondly because I missed my early morning flight from the UK and couldn't have made the appointment even if it hadn't been cancelled.

I will go there next time I am in the Douro as I have heard good things about them.

Derek

...and who said that you could change your avatar and rank back?

KillerB wrote:...and who said that you could change your avatar and rank back?

Me. I decided that my period of sack-cloth and ashes had passed no that I have returned to Blighty and am no longer feeling like this

Derek

Here is a brief report on my final visit on this trip...

Niepoort Cellar VNG

I was given a tour by the son of the Cellar Master, Jose (Ze) Rodrigo. Ze worked for a couple of other shippers before joining his father to help run the Niepoort opperation in VNG a few years ago. He is as passionate as a man can be about the wines he looks after and it was a great privilage to meet him.

The cellar is unlike anything I have seen in VNG. It is a true working cellar and bottling plant, not the polished and sterile environments you see on the tourist route. Ze walked me through the various parts of the cellar and explained the the history of the place and what each part of the cellar is used for. He also explained that the cellar is going through a period of transition following the purchase of the old Osborne cellar from Taylor Fladgate recently. The new cellar is being used as the administration centre and for the storage of new wines. The old cellar remains opperational but it seems will eventually become simply a storage facility.

The highlight of the trip was being taken into the inner sanctum of the world of Niepoort - the room where all the old bottles and Garrafeira Demijohns are stored. I don't think I have ever seem more dust in my life - it really is the epitomy of what an old cellar is meant to look like. The number of Demijohns in storage was quite staggering, almost 4,000 with equal shelf space allocated to ageing bottles of VP, Colheita and oddities that are no longer sold. If ever there was a place I would like to be buried alive it would be in that cellar - so long as I had a corkscrew with me

Next we tasted some wines:

Colheita 1987
Colheita 1998 (I think?)
20 yr old Tawny
LBV 2004
Vintage 2005

...plus a few others that have disappeared into the dim and distant past.

The 1987 Colheita was superb, as was the 2005 VP.

This visit was one of the more memorable parts of the entire trip as I had access to a place that very few people have ever seen. If you ever get the change to go here it is an absolute must.

Derek

Over the next few days I will post some TN's and other threads containing photographs of the Quintas I visited.

Derek