Douro Boys: Day two – Quinta do Vallado and Quinta do Vale D. Maria

The swimming pool@the Aquapura Hotel

3 November 2009

Having arrived at the Aquapura Hotel just outside Regua well after midnight it was perhaps not surprising that things were decidedly slow to get underway. This may not have been helped by the time we all spent working out how the hotel's lighting system worked. The Aquapura is apparently the best hotel in the Douro and indeed the bed was enormous and extremely comfortable. However, much of the rest of the hotel is a triumph of design over practicality and comfort.

Although according our schedule we were due to leave at 9am we didn't finally leave the hotel until after 9.45am. Not only irritating for those of us who were ready to depart on time and, who, had we known we were going to leave 45 minutes late could have spent another half hour or so working in our rooms but, more importantly, it curtailed the time we had at our last visit at Niepoort, so that the spectacular, generous and almost complete vertical of Redoma Tinto had to be combined with lunch.

If the 3rd European Wine Bloggers Conference includes a wine tour (tours) timekeeping is an aspect that will have to be tightened up. The problem had also arisen the previous evening when we were late leaving Crasto to drive to Regua meaning that our driver was in danger of falling foul of the strict laws that regulate number of hours a driver can in a day. It was would be unfair to blame our two guides, who I fancy had little experience in leading a group of this size.

To be continued....

Our visit to Niepoort will be in a separate posting.

EWBC: links to postings about the 2009 wine bloggers conference

2009 EWBC all set for a tasting

There is a useful list of links to blogging posts on the 2009 European Wine Bloggers Conference here on a thread called Lisboa –Wine Bloggers Conference on a Portuguese forum called NovaCrítica-vinho.com

One of the links is to Danielle del Gresso's video that includes scenes of the conference and the trip to the Douro.

Douro Boys: Day one (part two): Quinta do Crasto

2 November 2009

Quinta de Vargellas station on the way from Pocinho to Ferrão

(Progress on writing up last week's visits to Douro Boys has been slowed by catching the EWBC virus/germs. No not a computer virus but an old fashioned, low-tech fluey-cold.)

Following the tasting at Vale Meão we headed to Ferrão, which is the station after Pinhõa. Beside the Douro this small halt is in the middle of nowhere. Just the station and a track leading off up the hill. We were met here by the Crasto Boys. Most of us got to ride up the hill in an open truck to Crasto in the darkness, while a pampered few got a lift in a car.

During the 1990s I'd visited Crasto a couple of times and, although, it was dark it was clear that the winemaking facilities have expanded very considerably.

Ready for the vertical tasting of Old Vine Crasto

We had a vertical tasting of Crasto's Old Vines Reserva from 2001-2007. This spends 16-18 months in barrique – 60% new with some 10%-15% made from American oak. My favourite vintages were 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007. 2002 was a difficult year but despite this the wine was successful with herbal, Indian spice and cedar notes and good texture and balance. 2004 was a very dry year and gave a very concentrated wine full of black fruits with a decidedly tannic grip. Currently it's as tight as a duck's arse but has a lot of potential.

2005 is similarly dense and concentrated black fruits with length and power but softer and may be ready before the 2004. 2007 was bottled in early June 2009 and is not yet fully knit together but has aromas of violets and sweet youthful fruit and appears to have considerable potential.

The winemaker enthuses

...marvels@the quality

Along with the 70ha planted at Crasto, they now have a 150 hectare property in the Upper Douro that they bought in 2000, which has 90 hectares of red varieties planted. There are also ambitious plans to develop the tourist potential of Crasto to cater for day trips from Porto with a restaurant and shop. There will also be rooms where press and friends can stay.

Over dinner we drank several wines. The 2005 straight Quinta do Crasto with ist soft and supple fruit I found to be the most delicious and enjoyable to drink – also certainly the cheapest wine on show, although the 2005 will have long sold out.

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There is also a fascinating trailer of Zev Robinson http://vimeo.com/3221371 for his documentary (Documentary - La Bobal y otras historias del vino – La Bobal and other stories about wine)on the Bobal grape grown in the Utiel-Requena region of Valencia and the problem of worldwide grape oversupply, which acts as a backdrop to WineFuture.