Port to Port wine: fevereiro 2025

Versão PT aqui

Summary of contents:

Part II.

After the vines, the wines. Vineyard winemakers, the identity of Wine & Soul's wines. The winemaking.
Exports and markets.
Discovering the wines. The D.O.C. Douro wines.
Port wines. The indispensable attention to Port wines. Pintas vintage Port wine chart.
And the olive oil.

(previously published and accessible here)

Part I.

It's a family affair, and an independent family wine business.
The protagonists and the "new Douro". Tradition and modernity.
In the beginning was the vineyard... where it all started, the "Pintas" vineyard.
Vale de Mendiz, the Wine & Soul head-quarters and activity center in the Pinhão river valley
The spirit of the house. The fascination for old vines, in search for the perfect vines in a special terroir. The vine before the wine.
The "Pintas" old vineyard, the emblematic vineyard of the house: The vine characterization. The vineyard mappin.
The other Wine & Soul vineyards, a vineyard puzzle.
The Quinta da Manoella. Memory and some historical references. Description. The various “Manoella”…
The Quinta da Manoella centenary vineyard, the sense of place. The vineyard characterization. The work on the vineyard. The study and preservation of the vineyard. The other Quinta da Manoella vineyards.
Nature and the importance of biodiversity.

Part II.

1. After the vines, the wines. Vineyard winemakers, the identity of Wine & Soul's wines. The winemaking.

As we already mentioned, there is a very close relationship with the vineyards in which the old vines are recognised, valued and preserved as a biological and cultural heritage and for which there is a strong sense of responsibility and respect for its unique character. The house's aim is to create “original and unique wines, wines that are the authentic expression and signature of these vineyards, which are their natural reflection”, of the complexity of the ‘field-blends’, originated by the miscellany of traditional grape varieties and the specific conditions of the places where they are planted, by the balance originated by biodiversity, and which fully express the potential of these special terroirs, their breadth and complexity.

The Douro's traditional vineyard field-blends are defended, as they naturally ensure the fundamental good balance of the wines, much more so than when you try to achieve this balance in the wine cellar. These are "terroir" wines that bear witness to the identity and potential of these vineyards, their special nature, distinctive and differentiating wines. The work done in the vineyards, the care taken in its management, the pruning and the refined selection of the grapes in the vineyard and in the winery, and the subsequent vinification, all aim to respect and maintain the identity and personality of these vineyards.

Over the years and through successive harvests, the increased experience and accumulated knowledge of the behaviour of the vineyards and the producers' own personal experience led to a progressive improvement in the art of selecting the best vineyard plots, the best grapes, but above all the ability to interpret, assess and decide the precise moment to harvest.

“Wine & Soul's wines have a lot to do with working in the vineyards, with working in the field, because we want to respect nature as much as possible and this is the essence of Wine & Soul, which is to give expression to vineyards, respecting the identity and personality of each one.” Jorge Serôdio Borges.

Winemaking

It is in Vale de Mendiz that the entire winemaking process for the house's wines takes place, in the winery's small lagares. From 2019 onwards, with the acquisition of the building of an old olive oil mill, also located in Vale de Mendiz, on the road that leads to the river Pinhão, which now serves as a complementary cellar to the original winery builfing, for the vinification of all of Quinta da Manoella's wines.

The different vineyards and vineyard plots are vinified separately and the vinification process for red wines and Ports is based on ancestral and traditional winemaking practices, with minimal intervention and simple vinification so as not to disturb what the vines give. Foot treading is maintained in traditional small and medium-sized granite lagares, wher fermentation also takes place. It is assumed that this is still the best option for quality wines and it is a method that gives wines important characteristics, such as better extraction, greater intensity and smoothness, characteristics that are impossible to achieve with other mechanical methods.

After the manual harvest, the grapes are transported in small 20kg boxes to the winery in Vale de Mendiz where the grapes are carefully sorted and selected by hand because, although the different varieties tend to ripen in approximate timeframes, in some cases the ripening times may not be so uniform. In the case of D.O.C. Douro red wines, the bunches are completely destemmed, which is not the case when vinifying the house Port wines, in which, after the grapes have been selected, they enter the lagares without being destemmed and the whole bunches are trodden by foot, which is an essential factor for the structure, final quality and longevity of these wines.

The initial work in the lagares, the cutting (which separates the pulp from the grape skins), is carried out by a team of around 12 people who tread on foot for three nights, and during the day mechanical treading is used just to lower the blanket. When red wines are vinified, the first extraction is very important, after which the treading is lighter and gentler, until it is limited to pushing or lowering the blanket, a task that is carried out by one person. A mechanical system is also used solely for this purpose, to perforate the blanket to force the solid matter down to the bottom of the lagares, in order to obtain greater extraction from the must, i.e., to remove more colouring matter, tannins and other components.

The malolactic fermentation of red wines takes place in the barrels to better integrate the wood into the wine (assuming the risk here, since the wine is unprotected, without any sulphur).

The Port wine vinification requires greater extraction and therefore more people in the lagar to tread the grapes for a longer period of time.

Natural yeasts from the grapes are used and temperature control in the lagares during fermentation is the only existing technology. During fermentation, a longer maceration is allowed, with a gradual and gentle extraction of tannins that will then give the wines greater balance and elegance. Once fermentation is complete, the solid masses that come out of the lagares are sent to the house's old "FAS" vertical press for pressing, an essential piece of equipment for the quality of the "press wine", which will be added to the wine that has finished fermenting in the lagar.

The winery's traditional granite lagares in Vale de Mendiz.

The white wines are vinified using a pneumatic press, a mechanical system auto vinifier. In the warehouse next to the winery, the white wines are vinified in stainless steel vats and in barrels with barrel-by-barrel temperature control, according to the capacity of the casks and the musts, a precision winemaking.

DOC Douro wines are aged in barrels in the most traditional way possible, in French oak casks with a capacity of 225 litres. For red wines, used barrels are always used, which don't interfere with the delicate aromas and expressiveness of the wines, which in turn would be lost with the more intense impression of new wood. The aim is the micro-oxygenation that the barrel allows over a long period of time.

In the cellar, the wines that have been idealised are monitored and tasted throughout the year by each of the winemakers separately and, in the final phase, before blending or finalising the wine, the tasting is done together to discuss opinions and settling details to arrive at the final consensos result.

For Wine & Soul it is very important that the wines spend two winters in barrels in the Douro, because the temperature in winter is very low and has the effect of naturally stabilising the wine.

The pneumatic press used in the vinification of D.O.C. Douro white wines.

As we've mentioned, the main guiding principle of the winemaking process is the minimum possible intervention, which is essential to achieve the richness and concentration of the wines, the maximum expression of nature, the potential of the various terroirs and the virtues of the old vines. It is the unique terroir and the vicissitudes of the wine year that in the end will determine the wine’s identity and character. At Wine & Soul, these principles are stated with great clarity and without artifice, and then the desire to always do better imposes a particularly high standard and great care in every detail.

“Size in this business isn't that important for quality, in fact, it's often easier to achieve higher levels of quality with smaller dimensions.” Jorge Serôdio Borges.

2. Exports and markets.

Wine & Soul currently produces around 120,000 bottles a year, including Port, at an average price well above the region´s reality.

Of the total production, around 70% of the wines are destined for export and 30% for the portuguese domestic market, which is essentially made up of specialised wine shops and restaurants. Despite being a small company with a limited production, the wines are exported to a wide variety of destinations. There are approximately 25 countries and the main foreign markets are the United States, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, Brazil and Asia, generally to almost every country in Europe. Interestingly, requests have recently been received from South Africa and Malta, and exports to Australia are about to begin. From the beginning, Wine & Soul has focussed a lot on exports, and the existence of several markets has always been a great advantage in terms of disposing of production and achieving a balance in terms of sales. The US market is very important and strategic for the house, as it is a benchmark for the rest of the world, for reasons of visibility and international recognition of its wines, as was the case with the descriptions and classifications by the American magazine Wine Spectator.

These figures are pre-pandemic, prior to a generalised crisis in wine sales caused by the pandemic, with effects in 2020 and 2021, in which sales fell sharply on the domestic market and have not yet recovered, while exports have risen.

3. Discovering the wines.

The house's production is currently split 80% D.O.C. Douro wines and 20% Port wine, but in the future the aim is to pay more attention to Port wine, with the promise of strengthening the portfolio with new proposals in this category.

Over time, the wine references have increased, always with the overriding concern of maintaining the identity of each wine, which seeks to reflect the history of the terroirs from which they originate. The wines have already achieved a consistent and unquestionable recognition of superior quality, which is agreed upon at national and international level, recognised by the most prestigious wine critics in the world.

Wine & Soul's D.O.C. Douro wines do not follow the classifications or apply the complementary designations of the certifying body (the IVDP), (such as the designations generally used for Douro wines, like "Reserva" or "Grande Reserva"), because the aim and what is most important is the value of the brand and the recognition of the intrinsic quality, which is created over time and with the great consistency and success of the wines.

All the work in the vineyard and winery is precision work, the attention to every detail, the care and good taste that is reflected in the aesthetics and identity of the brand and the wines, in the design of the labels, which are simple and neutral in colour, as well as the choice of name for the wines, as in the case of "Pintas", a short and perceptible name that can easily be spelt in several languages. In keeping with these values, the image of the wines in the Wine & Soul portfolio was renewed in 2021, under the responsibility of Rita Rivotti, a portuguese specialist in wine design.

“The Douro, despite more than three centuries of existence, has been able to reinvent itself by creating Douro wines in parallel with Port wines.” Jorge Serôdio Borges.

D.O.C. Douro wines

The great thing about these wines is the field-blends from the old vines and the uniqueness of their expression. There are no single varietal wines here. The decision was to produce exclusively high quality, premium category wines, that over time have become a benchmark for the quality and modernity of the Douro, the ‘new Douro’. It would not be unreasonable to say that the wines produced here are among the best in the Douro and in the country.

Pintas: a DOC Douro red wine that was born from the 2001 harvest, the "unmistakable" of a special vineyard, a special wine was born from a unique parcel of old vines, it is one of the country's great red wines. A pure terroir wine that aims to show the great identity of the Douro, it was the house's first creation and is the icon of Wine & Soul. A modern Douro wine, but with an identity and roots in the Douro tradition, which has achieved benchmark status in the region and recognition among wine critics and specialised international magazines. It represents ‘the Douro at its best’, as it has been labelled. (more details on"Pintas" vineyard here: Part I., point 6.)

One of the great vintages of this wine was 2011, which represented a major milestone in the life of Wine & Soul and its worldwide recognition and impact, when it was awarded 98pts. by "Wine Spectator", the renowned and influential North American magazine, which ended up highlighting and recognising internationally the wine, the brand and the house. In 2020, in the same publication, "Pintas" was included in the list of the 100 best wines of the year, after a selection of many thousands from a universe of wines from all over the world (in which it was the only Portuguese wine represented). Today it is a wine on a par with the world's classic reds.

There have now been 21 editions since the launch of the first "Pintas", which at first was a wine with great concentration and more marked by wood, a more excessive style, which is still a wine that demonstrates the initial thinking of the house. Over the course of the various editions, the evolution of this style has been towards refinement and complexity, but maintaining its identity, and now better expressing the terroir, with depth and concentration, but also with balance and elegance, always with remarkable consistency. It is produced in small quantities (since the first edition there have always been small productions, between 4000 and 6000 bottles of each vintage). With its powerful fruit, tannins and concentration, it's a wine that needs bottle time to age, to achieve harmony and that begins to approach its optimum point to be fully appreciated no earlier than 10 years after the harvest.

Once the grapes have been selected and destemmed, they are trodden by foot in the traditional granite lagares, where they ferment for 10 days, with subsequent malolactic fermentation and a 20 month ageing period in 225 litre French oak barrels, up to 20% of which are new barrels. As we've mentioned, there has been an evolution over the years in the method of integrating the wood into the wine, with a progressive reduction in the use of new wood.

Pintas Character: (DOC Douro red) the first edition was born in 2005, a wine that was created so as not to change the identity of Pintas, but with the same character. It's a red wine made from a blend of grapes from five different old vineyards in the Pinhão river valley, close to the Pintas vineyard, located at altitudes of between 200 and 450 metres, with different exposures, and with around 30 different native grape varieties. These vines are approximately 50 years old. It's a wine that aims to show the profile and potential of the old vines in the area. The winemaking process is the same as for "Pintas". Once the grapes have been selected and partially destemmed, they are trodden by foot in the lagares, where they ferment for 10 days, with malolactic fermentation and ageing for 18 months in 50% new barrels and 50% used French oak casks. It's a wine with the character of the "Pintas", when you consider the origin, the old vines and the vinification, and as with "Pintas", patience pays off, as it will evolve with ageing in bottle for at least 10 years.

Guru: (DOC Douro white) was first released in 2004 as the house's first white wine and is today a benchmark in this style. It is a wine that reveals the versatility of the region and the great potential of the higher areas of the Douro to produce great white wines from vineyards located in the right areas. It's also a white from old vines, a ‘field-blend’ from vines that were used to produce white Ports, with grapes from several plots of eight old vines, close together, located at a higher altitude, around 600 metres, in the village of Porrais, in Murça, further north in the region, next to Trás-os-Montes, on soils in the transition zone between schist and granite and with lots of quartz. This is clearly the best area in the Douro for producing white wines, with a perfect combination for very fine wines with their own identity. The plots are vinified separately because they have different characteristics and different ripening points. There are only four varieties of grapes: Rabigato, which is less aromatic but provides the necessary acidity, Códega do Larinho and Gouveio, which are more neutral in flavour but provide structure and texture, and Viosinho, which is the most aromatic variety. Once the grapes have been selected and partially destemmed, they are pressed in a pneumatic press and the prolonged fermentation on the lees will favour texture and flavour with a little more extraction. Fermentation and ageing takes place in 500 litre French oak barrels (there are currently 56 barrels for the house's white wines), 9% of which are new barrels and others are used casks of various ages, for around four weeks at low temperatures, and aging in the same barrels for eight months, in contact with the lees and with battonage.

Since its first edition, the wine's profile has evolved to the current one, which is less marked by wood and more centred on the freshness of the fruit. It's essentially a white wine for ageing, a vin de garde with great ageing capacity.

Guru NM, Non Millésime, white, or the ‘perfect guru’, a great white wine from the Douro, with no indication of the year, this is a special edition of the ‘guru’, more exclusive and reduced to only 1599 bottles (the first edition launched in 2020 and with subsequent releases planned every three or four years). This first edition is a blend of three different vintages of the guru, from 2010 (20%), 2013 (40%) and 2015 (40%) and is the result of a selection of barrels from the various years and from different plots of vineyards that make up the guru, with longer ageing periods in French oak barrels followed by three years in the bottle, i.e. it's not a blend of ‘guru’ from each of these years, but the choice of specific plots of vineyards that after vinification were left for much longer in the barrel and then in bottle. It's a more evolved, more perfect guru, which arose from the desire to show the ageing potential of this wine.

Other novelties will emerge from these experiments in the future.

Guru Vinha da Calçada, white: it appeared in October 2023, the first edition from the 2020 harvest. This wine comes from a plot of traditional old vines, with a mixture of traditional grape varieties and at an altitude of 600 metres (which was recently acquired by W&S at the end of 2019). A curious aspect is the name of the wine, which comes from the Roman road that runs through the vineyard. A different, separate winemaking process was decided upon, not like the guru, but in which fermentation and ageing takes place in French oak "foudres" (a larger capacity barrel or vat, in which the wood/wine ratio is lower) with a capacity of 1200 litres, where everything happens more slowly, with a softer and more neutral impact, fewer aromas and flavours from the wood, in which the wine fermented and aged for a longer period of two years, followed by another year in the bottle, which helped the wine's finer and more delicate profile. A small quantity of 1533 bottles was bottled.

Vinha do Altar Reserva white: the first edition was from the 2019 harvest, a wine from a ‘new region’ for the production of Douro whites. It's a blend of Viosinho, Gouveio and Arinto grape varieties from a vineyard located in Fermentões, on the Sabrosa plateau, in the Cima Corgo sub-region, at an altitude of around 600 metres. It’s a wine with a totally different profile and aromatic expression to Wine & Soul's other whites, Guru and Maneolla white, as a result of the totally different soils, here 100% schist and with a northerly exposure. The grapes are selected and destemmed, then pneumatically pressed and fermented in stainless steel vats at low temperatures for a month. It is aged on the fine lees for six months to enhance its flavour expression.

Defining the final blends. (source: Wine & Soul)

Quinta da Manoella Vinhas Velhas, red: the acquisition of Quinta da Manoella allowed the house's portfolio of wines to be expanded and enriched. This is a wine that first appeared in 2009 and only 3,000 bottles were made from this first vintage. Today, from the 2021 harvest, its 13th edition, approximately 4000 bottles. Like ‘Pintas’, it is recognised as one of the great wines of the Douro and the country. It represents the estate's oldest vines and is the expression of a completely different Douro from ‘Pintas’, evidence that it is possible to obtain high quality Douro wines with completely different profiles. It has less black fruit and more floral and some vegetal notes, and also some spices, earth and minerality, with a long finish. These are two very different styles of Douro red wines. (more details on Quinta da Manoella's century old vineyard, see Part I., point 9) It's a perfect example of a terroir wine, with a strong identity and character, the maximum expression of the characteristics of the place where it is born. It's pure and fresh, elegant, with complexity and concentration, with woodland aromas and no hint of the ripe fruit that characterises so many Douro wines.

It originates from the grapes of two plots in the quinta's century-old vineyard and from around 30 varieties of various indigenous Douro grape varieties, reflecting the freshness of the special place where it is born and the great biodiversity that surrounds the vineyard. The location and all this surroundings help to create wines with an unusual elegance in the region. It's a different Douro, resulting also from the diverse composition of this vineyard and the predominance of Tinta Francisca in theses old vines, which contributes to its elegance and freshness. It is produced from selected and partially destemmed grapes, foot trodden in the traditional granite lagares where they ferment for 10 days, followed by malolactic fermentation and ageing for 22 months in new French oak barrels. It has a very small production. It’s a wine that will age well for many years. A wine that is “a hymn to the region's old vines”.

Quinta da Manoella Vinha Alecrim, red:the 2015 harvest gave rise to this first edition, which was first released on the market very recently, at the end of 2023. It marks the 185th anniversary of Quinta da Manoella. It originates from a very small plot of the estate's century-old vineyard, called Alecrim vineyard, so named because it is located next to a large old rosemary (alecrim) tree (and close to the winery), planted to attract bees for pollination (next to the estate's apiary). This small plot with a total area of only 0,8 hectares, has a very low production and over the years it has been possible to identify a distinct expression from the remaining old vines, which has led to separate vinifications being carried out and stored separately. This special wine was aged for 20 months in French oak barrels, followed by a further 6 years in the bottle. A wine that will always be in limited production, of which only 496 bottles (75cl.) were bottled in this first edition. It is part of the growing trend in the Douro to make detailed wines from specific vineyard parcels. It's a wine that demonstrates that Quinta da Manoella achieves very distinctive wine profiles, moving away from the more concentrated style characteristic of Douro wines and showing a more elegant profile with less power. Elegance and purity would best define it.

Manoella, red: first appeared with the harvest of 2010 and is made from a field-blend of grapes from Quinta da Manoella's most recent vineyards, as mentioned above, planted in the late 70s and early 80s of the 20th century, now around 42 years old, with a south-westerly exposure, to which other purchased grapes are added. A field-blend from vineyards with a mixture of grape varieties, but mostly Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz and then Tinta Francisca that completes the blend and that it's a very fine grape variety that adds floral notes and elegance. The grapes are selected and destemmed, foot trodden in the granite lagares for 12 hours and then fermented in stainless steel vats for 8 days. It is aged in used French oak casks for 16 months. The wine is a good expression of the region, it has structure, freshness and elegance.

Manoella, white: had its first harvest in 2015 and is produced from a field-blend of grapes selected from the Gouveio, Viosinho, Rabigato and Códega do Larinho varieties from 57 year old vines planted on granite soils and with predominant exposures to the north, at an altitude of 600 metres, but in a different area from the vineyards that are at the origin of the guru, in the Carrazeda de Ansiães area. Once the grapes have been selected and destemmed, they go through a pneumatic press, ferment in stainless steel vats at low temperatures for 8 weeks and then age in stainless steel vats and a cement egg for over 6 months in contact with the fine lees. A pure white, very mineral and with a very fine texture.

Manoella, rosé: the most recent of the three Manoella, with the first edition of the 2019 harvest. A 100% Touriga Nacional wine, born from a 43 year old plot of vines at Quinta da Manoella, planted at an altitude of 450 metres with a south-westerly exposure. The grapes are selected and go through a very gentle pressing in a pneumatic press, with the protection of carbon dioxide gas, to obtain a delicate wine and maintain a fine purity of aromas and flavours, then fermented very slowly for five weeks in stainless steel vats at low temperatures, in contact with the fine lees for six months to gain some volume, but without extracting too much. The aim is to achieve a classic, versatile, fine and dry rosé wine, with freshness and minerality and a well present acidity. What's also interesting is that it's a wine that will evolve in the bottle for a few more years.

The Port wine cellas at Quinta da Manoella. (source: Wine & Soul)

Port wines. The indispensable attention to Port wines.

From the very beginning, Wine & Soul has never stopped dedicating itself to Port wine, the production of which is seen as the logical consequence of being in the Douro - Port wine is the soul of the Douro and is a unique product worldwide - and of respecting this historic Douro tradition, which is crucial and intrinsic to the region and the Pinhão river valley, while honouring the special historic vineyards that owe their existence to Port wine. Over the years, the house has progressively invested in and built up its own stock of red and white Ports, gradually with more years of ageing. In the years in which vintage Port is not declared, all the Port wine is aged in wood, increasing the house's stocks so that in the future it can expand its collection of Port wines, with their own profile, different from classic Port wines, showing that it is possible to make differentiating wines in Port wine too, assuming that this is also the mission of smaller producers, to present other proposals and take Port wine further and to other consumers.

In addition to these own-production wines, other blends of old Ports have also been acquired from Douro families. In recent years, part of Wine & Soul's investment has been to increase its own stocks of Port wine by acquiring old blends. This stock, which has been successively increased over the years, with wines both produced and acquired, now stands at around 300 barrels.

“It's a shame that so many of the younger producers concentrate on table wine - Port shouldn't be forgotten.” Jorge Serôdio Borges

Tawny Ports require more ‘time, patience, space and investment’, but this category is expected to be extended in the future to include 30 and 40 year old tawny Ports, with the ‘Manoella’ label, while the house's Vintage will continue with the ‘Pintas’ label, which indicates its place of origin.

Manoella Tawny Finest Reserve Port, made from a blend of Quinta da Manoella Port wines aged for an average period of six years in casks with an approximate capacity of 630 litres. Manoella Ruby Finest Reserve Port, on the other hand, is the result of a blend of Quinta da Manoella Port wines aged for an average of six years but in larger oak casks, it’s a ruby Port with more evolution and complexity.

Manoella 10 Years Old Extra Dry White Port, with a sweetness level of 42g/L, is a relatively recent and original release from the house. It aims to be the argument for people to drink more Port wine again. It's made from a blend of white wines from old high altitude vineyards, from Viosinho, Rabigato, Códega do Larinho and Gouveio grape varieties. The grapes were trodden by foot and fermented in the granite lagares followed by a period of ageing in the Quinta da Manoella cellar in 630 litre wine casks. Manoella 10 Years Old White Port. The grapes, the winemaking and ageing process are all the same as the previous wine, but with a higher sugar level, in this case 94g/L.

Manoella 10 Years Old Tawny Port (corresponds to the previous ‘Wine & Soul 10 Years Old Tawny Port’), but this reference is now labelled "Manoella". A 10 year old tawny Port that suggests more age than indicated on the label. It was created in 2011 when Wine & Soul celebrated its 10th anniversary. It's a wine that fulfils the tradition of the Douro families, where it has always been made and where the whole business revolved around Tawny Port, unlike the British houses that have always shown a preference for the ruby/vintage style. A small production but fundamental to signalling the house's connection to Port wine. It is made from stocks of tawny Port that have been built up over the years. These wines are produced from the old vines at Quinta da Manoella, made up with grapes from around 30 grape varieties native to the region that are vinified using traditional methods. After the grapes have been selected and foot trodden in granite lagares without destemming, the blends are aged in Quinta da Manoella's Port wine cellar in old Portuguese chestnut casks with a capacity of around 630 litres for over 10 years.

Manoella 20 Years Old Tawny Port is the house's latest tawny, which reinforces the house's commitment to Port wine. It is also aged in the old Portuguese chestnut casks of the Quinta da Manoella winery and has a very limited production with an initial bottling of 1600 bottles. It also endeavours to distinguish itself with a different, fresher and more elegant style.

5G Five Generations Port, 5G Century old Port: this is a blended wine made up of very old Port wines, some of which are over 100 years old, aged in the Douro at the Quinta da Manoella winery. It was produced at the end of the 19th century by Jorge Serôdio Borges' great-great-grandfather and has been with the family for five generations, for over 120 years. It’s a wine that accompanied special family occasions. A small stock of this wine was inherited by Jorge Serôdio Borges in June 2009, consisting of three barrels that have aged in the Douro. It includes wines from vintages between 1870 and 1900. Obviously a very special wine, a delicate and elegant very old Tawny that ‘symbolises tradition, knowledge and passion for the Douro and Port wine’. A very limited edition of 1200 bottles, a small quantity that represents the magic of very old Port wines, characterised by complexity, balance and great persistence.

Pintas Vintage Port: the first was from the 2003 vintage and the 2017 edition is described as the best edition ever, the result of an extraordinary year in the region and in this location in the Pinhão river valley, undoubtedly an unusual year, very hot and which produced wines with a lot of concentration, while maintaining a remarkable freshness. The new profile of these vintage Ports, of which the 2017 edition is perhaps the best expression and the most successful ever, according to Jorge Serôdio Borges' interpretation, maintains the region’s traditional winemaking methods, but with a greater concern for achieving balanced wines even when they are still young, without compromising the ageing potential in the bottle and with the use of high quality brandy in the fortification process.

They always originate from the same plot of old vines, produced from selected grapes from the 91 year old Pintas vineyard which has a diversity of 40 different indigenous varieties that are harvested a little earlier than usual so as not to over-ripen the grapes. After selection and without destemming, they are trodden by foot in traditional granite lagares and then aged for 19 months in the large portuguese chestnut barrels in the Quinta da Manoella wine cellar. This is a consistent vintage from the ‘new Douro’, which is the expression of the vineyard and whose main characteristics are concentration, freshness, purity and intensity of fruit and quality of tannins. As we mentioned earlier, in the years when it is not declared a vintage Port, all the wine is destined to age in casks and enrich the house's Port wine stock.

Throughout its 14 editions, ‘Pintas’ vintage Ports have maintained a remarkable consistency of quality, undoubtedly based on the fact that the grapes are always sourced from the same parcel of the Pintas vineyard.

And olive oil

Wine & Soul also includes the "Pintas" extra virgin olive oil in its portfolio, because the Douro is not just about wine. It is produced from different olive trees that border the vineyards and paths and from the small olive groves that also surround the ‘Pintas’ vineyard in the Pinhão river valley. These are olive trees that are over 80 years old in an organic production system, of the cobrançosa, madural and verdeal varieties, harvested by hand using the cold, gentle extraction method to preserve the natural flavours, and are milled the same day they are picked.

(link:) The Douro beyond the vineyards. "Pintas" olive oil.