Five chapters, eighteen moments. Year after year, it all begins again.
Chapter I · In the vineyard
01
Vine
“There are 20.9 hectares of planted vineyard, and four of them are over sixty years old.”
01 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter I · In the vineyard
02
Harvest
“The harvest is by hand, in the vineyard, by a team of seven choosing berry by berry, into eighteen-kilo crates.”
02 / 18Next: Harvest
The white pathThe red path
Chapter II · The arrival
03
Reception
White & red, side by side
“Cold storage on arrival. In the Douro Superior the heat dries the grape out before it reaches the press.”
03 / 18Next: Harvest
The white pathThe red path
Chapter II · The arrival
04
Selection and separation
White & red, side by side
“Full destemming with a light crush. In whites the must leaves the skins; in reds they ferment together.”
04 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter III · The wine is born
05
Cold room
The white path
“The grapes spend twenty-four hours in the cold before pressing, so they reach the press without heat stress.”
05 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter III · The wine is born
06
Pressing and settling
The white path
“The pressing is pneumatic and direct, with no skin contact: the must enters clean and settles slowly.”
06 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter III · The wine is born
07
Lagar
The red path
“Foot-treading is one of four ways red is fermented here. The lagar stone is granite, which surfaces along the Vilariça fault.”
07 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter III · The wine is born
08
Pumping over
The red path
“Touriga Nacional has a lagar of its own, with a net that holds the solids down in the must.”
08 / 18Next: Harvest
The white pathThe red path
Chapter III · The wine is born
09
Fermentation
White & red, side by side
“The reds ferment between 22 and 30 °C, to draw colour and tannin; the whites between 12 and 18, so the aroma survives. Water runs through the vat’s jacket, never through the wine.”
09 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter IV · Time
10
Clarification and stabilisation
“Protein stabilisation with bentonite, tartaric stabilisation and filtration before filling — the minimum for the wine to reach the bottle clean.”
10 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter IV · Time
11
Ageing
“French oak gives elegance and American gives vanilla. In most lots the barrel is of second and third use — the wood serves, it does not rule; in the reservas new oak comes in too.”
11 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter IV · Time
12
Barrel room
“Some 150 barrels, held at 75–80 % humidity. Electronic bungs watch the wine without the barrel ever being opened.”
12 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter IV · Time
13
Tasting and blending
“A wine is not one thing: it is a blend of lots — some in new oak, some in steel alone. The blend is decided by tasting.”
13 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter V · The bottle, and again
14
Bottling
“There are six steps: the bottle is flushed with nitrogen, washed, dried, filled, washed outside and labelled.”
14 / 18Next: Harvest
15Labelling
Chapter V · The bottle, and again
15
Labelling
“Every label carries its own run: from the Migalha Tinto, at 380 bottles, to the Palato Branco, at twenty thousand.”
15 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter V · The bottle, and again
16
The bottle
“The bottle closes the year. What went in was fruit from the estate, and from nowhere else.”
16 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter V · The bottle, and again
17
Pruning
“Through the dormant season, the sheep keep down the growth between the vines. And it is the pruning that decides the next harvest.”
17 / 18Next: Harvest
Chapter V · The bottle, and again
18
Tending the vine
“There are cover crops between the rows and four hectares of pasture. The work begins again, year after year.”
18 / 18Next: Harvest
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The final blend is also decided at the table.
Before reaching the bottle, each wine goes through successive tastings. Carloto Magalhães and Paulo Schreck prepare blend proposals and assess them rigorously. The partners and their families add the demanding, close-up view of those who will drink the wine.
The vat hall hosts long lunches and dinners, and sometimes the wine goes straight from the vat into the glasses. That is where you find out whether a blend survives a whole meal — which is the tasting that counts.
Assessing the wine against the light
The cellar’s motto · five things we do not do
“Better not to touch, so as not to get in the way.”
Five refusals follow from it, and each one costs money, time or bottles.
We do not buy grapes. Not one, from anyone — and that is what keeps production normally between one hundred and one hundred and thirty thousand bottles a year.
We do not weed the vineyard. Through the dormant season, the sheep keep down the growth between the vines.
We do not give new oak to the everyday wine. In the Colheita the wood is of second and third use — it serves, it does not rule. New barrels are kept for the Reservas.
We do not crush the pip. In the old-vine lots extraction is by foot-treading in a granite lagar, a gentle extraction suited to this fruit — and leaving the pip whole limits the extraction of bitterness.
We do not let the fruit warm up. Twenty-four hours in cold storage before it enters — a demanding logistical step, meant to protect the quality of the fruit before vinification.
The bottle closes the year. What went in was fruit from the estate, and from nowhere else.
