Page 37 - Code de Vino, #17/23, a/w 2018

36 Feature Story Code de Vino #17
Quinta do Portal
(Douro Valley)
Author: Vasily Prytkov
Quinta do Portal S.A. is Portugal's modern, high-quality winemaking standard in Douro
Valley in the north. The company produces excellent premium wines of various styles, from
traditional port to stunning quiet wines. But the main merit of this family company is its focus
on all different kinds of business areas to make multifaceted contributions to Portugal,
be it vineyard cultivation, architecture, wine hotels or a haute-cuisine restaurant so excellent
one might even struggle to find the words to describe it. Indeed, it can be the sole reason
for visiting here to learn more about modern Portuguese high class.
Code de Vino #17 Quinta do Portal (Douro Valley) 37
Company history
Quinta do Portal is a family company dedicated to the idea From the very start of its operation in the 1990's, the heart
of boutique winemaking. High quality is a standard and soul of Quinta do Portal has been its commitment to
in everything it specializes in, from wine production produce wines of the highest quality with the most advanced
to wine tourism and enogastronomy. production standards. Throughout many years, these efforts,
passion and commitment to tradition have been
The company proudly makes Douro DOC, premium port acknowledged both on the national and global levels.
wines and muscatels. The word "Quinta" in its name means
"farm", "estate" or "property" in Portuguese. Wines marked
as Quinta can only be made from grapes picked at the
vineyards of this company.
Quinta do Portal is quite a young project, founded in the
1990's as a premium wine producer on the base of Quinta
do Casal de Celeirós, a century-old winery where the Branco
family has been producing port wines since the late 19th
century. The head farm stretches out over 15 hectares
of purely slate soil. The winery began its operations at the
end of the 19th century and was considered a model farm.
Historical documents mention that the "phylloxera plague"
in Europe did not affect these areas. In 1886, Viscount of
Vilarinho de São Romão mentioned that "it is the only vineyard
known to stay unharmed by the phylloxera plague". According
to another historical fact, the farm was the first in Douro Valley
to allow women to stomp grapes.