Little “Wine and soul” challenge Portmore Winehouses

The Douro Valley in Portugal has changed. Thirty years ago, it was all about port wine, all about big houses with internationally famous names. But in the 1990s, things began to change; a new generation of winemakers appeared. They made not only port wine but also excellent (unfortunately) dry red and white Douro wine. These wines were soon seen as some of the best, perhaps the best, in Portugal.

In 2001, Sandra Tavares da Silva created the successful company Wine & Soul with her husband, Jorge Borges. “This was a good time to start,” she said, “there were a lot of new projects happening. ”

One reason for all the activity was that new rules, introduced in 1986, when Portugal became a member of the EU, made it easier for small producers to port their wine. export and export. Sandra and Jorge make a tune, but it has never been their main focus.

“We wanted to show that Douro Valley can produce world-class dry red wine,” said Sandra. “At the time, people only knew about port wine.”

“We’re both from wine families,” explained Sandra, “Jorge is a fifth-generation winemaker in the Douro, and I’m the fourth generation, but from the south of Portugal, near Lisbon.”

When they met and decided they wanted to make wine together, they both worked as winemakers for other Douro producers (and they still are in reality). “The idea was just to make wine together, to learn, we had no idea to make a company like this.

The company has grown, step by step. They bought an old port lodge in the small town of Vale de Mendiz, a few kilometers from Pinhão, across the river. Pintas was their first vineyard, 3.7 acres of old wines. Now, 20 years later, they make eight different wines and olive oils.

“Pintas is a field mix, so it’s a vineyard with amazing diversity; about 40 varieties of grape grow together. We don’t know how many; we still recognize some of them, ”said Sandra.

“We wanted to work with old, long-rooted grapes, for balance. We also wanted the southwest view to grow well. We traditionally work with the feet of grapes trodden in stone lagares although 2020 unfortunately we could not [due to corona restrictions]. ”

Here is a short video with the stunning scenery in the Douro Valley:

“Pintas has a strong personality,” said Sandra. I agree; it is on. Pintas 2017 it looks like an explosion of notes of herbs and shinty on the palette. But it is still very balanced, very fragrant, with black carrot, liquorice, spices, texture and a beautiful structure and vibrant acidity. Beautiful wine, drinking well now. (~ 80 USD).

Pintas are very successful but always made in very small quantities, around 6,000 bottles, since the vineyard is only 3.7 acres. Sandra and Jorge wanted to add wine in the same style as Pintas, but with a larger size.

So, Pintas character born, made of grains from a vineyard around the man who handed Pintas. It is also a field mix; the average wines are 50 years old, and it is also steep in lagares. The wine spends 18 months in oak barrels. It is powerful but elegant with intense fruit aromas. (~ 25 USD)

The package has grown even bigger. Quinta da Manoella is an estate in the Pinhão Valley belonging to the Jorge family since 1838. The 148 acres comprise 98 acres of cork oak and olive trees. From Manoella’s vineyard, Jorge and Sandra make two reds and one white wine.

Quinta da Manoella VV it is from a field mix of 120-year-old wines. VV stands for vinhas velhas, old wines in Portugal. It is an excellent wine with a dense, dense texture and, as always in the wines from Wine & Soul, a refreshing acidity. (~ 70 USD)

Manoella Red 2018 it is easy to drink, easy to enjoy, light and fruity, with aromas of dark berries and liquorice. The graves are 60% Touriga Nacional, 25% Touriga Franca, 10% Tinta Roriz, 5% Tinta Francisca. It is not a mixture of fields, but the graves ferry together. (~ 20 USD)

The white Manoella Branco 2019 it is also a field blend with 50-year-old grapes, especially local grains such as Rabigato, Codega de Larinho and Viosinho. The ground is granite, but, in the Douro, it is usually a schist for the red wines and the port wines. The alcohol is only 11.5%, and is very fresh and crunchy, light and elegant with aromas of citrus, melon and white flowers. It has a personality and is great value for money. (~ 20 USD)

Guru White 2019 white is more full-bodied. The wine ferries in barrels of French oak and ages for eight months in the barrels with some batonnage (moving the lees). It has a beautiful, full body texture, refreshing citrus aromas and some honey notes. (~ 35 USD)

Port wine was not their main destination at first. “But,” said Sandra, “it would be hard not to produce a tune”. They make two, a 10-year-old mosaic and an old port, both amazing wines.

As the demand for port wine has declined, the interest among growers to make unfortunate dry wine has gone up. The area has excellent conditions for producing high quality dry wine. And I bet some growers are happy not to deal with the many rules that apply to port wine production and the long age that many port wines require.

But thanks to dynamic growers such as Wine & Soul and others, the port’s wine is gaining new customers. “People who don’t usually buy our Douro dry wine will become curious about our port wines over time,” says Sandra. So everyone wins in the end.

—Britt Karlsson