Quinta do Noval, a 1880 description.

 EN/PT

    It would seem that we could easily travel back in time and accompany the description looking at a current photograph of the same location and landscape from the large terrace of Quinta do Noval's main house, under the shade of the impressive and ancient lebanese cedar tree around 170 years old (if we make an effort to ignore the recent building of the DOC Douro wine cellar and warehouse, the building with the grey roof on the photo).

   The notes of Henry Vizetelly, an english traveller across the Douro in 1880, a description of a historic terroir:

    "The little river Pinhão is skirted on the left bank by a new macadamised road, and along this we ride, past vineyards, olive-groves and water-mills, shaded by clustered oaks and cork trees, with gleaming white casas and little hamlets picturesquely perched up the surrounding slopes. (...)

    The road intersectes the vineyards of the ancient Quinta do Noval, the property of the Visconde de Vilar de Allen, and a steep narrow mountain track leads from the new highway to the buildings of the quinta, which commands one of the most magnificent prospects in the Alto Douro. From its highest altitude the waters of the Pinhão are all but lost to view more or less hidden by jutting crags and branching foliage, but away in the distance there gleams the rapid Douro, looking far brighter and clearer than it seems when standing on its banks.

    Terraces of vines rise and descend on all sides (...)".

(Henry Vizetelly description from the book "Facts about Port and Madeira", Part II "In the Port wine Country", 1880.).

Quinta do Noval, um descrição de 1880.

    Dir-se-ia que facilmente poderíamos viajar no tempo e acompanhar a descrição com uma fotografia actual da paisagem a partir do grande terraço em frente à casa principal da Quinta do Noval, à sombra do vetusto e imponente cedro do Líbano com cerca de 170 anos (e se fizermos um esforço para nos abstrairmos do recente edifício da adega e armazém de vinhos DOC Douro - o telhado cinzento na fotografia)

    As impressões de Henry Vizetelly, um viajante inglês em 1880, a descrição de um terroir histórico da região:

    "O pequeno rio Pinhão é orlado, na margem esquerda por uma estrada nova em macadame, pela qual metemos a cavalo, passando por vinhas, olivais e moinhos, à sombra de grupos de carvalhos e sobreiros, com pequenas casas brancas e aldeias pitorescamente empoleiradas nas faldas dos montes mais próximos. (...)

    A estrada atravessa as vinhas da antiga quinta do Noval, propriedade do Visconde de Villar d'Allen, e um atalho estreiro e íngreme liga a nova estrada, através do monte, com os edifícios da quinta, da qual se disfruta de um dos mais belos panoramas do Alto Douro. Desde o alto onde fica a quinta, não se consegue enxergar o Pinhão escondido pelos rochedos salientes e pela folhagem das árvores, mas ao longe vemos cintilar o Douro impetuoso parecendo bem mais brilhante do que visto junto às margens.

    Vinhas dispostas em socalcos, sobem e descem por todos os lados (...)" 

(Henry Vizetelly, do livro "Facts about Port and Madeira", Part II "In the Port wine country", de 1880.).

 ©Hugo Sousa Machado

# Douro: The 2016 harvest report

(Quinta da Costa de Baixo, Cima Corgo Douro sub-region)

A difficult and very demanding year...

    This is how we can best define another cycle of the vineyard that has just ended, an atypical wine year that was difficult, demanding and that forced a lot of work in the vineyard. It was a challenging year which led producers to better understand each specific terroir, each part of the vineyard and each grape variety in order to make the most of production.

    It all started with a very rainy winter, with an average precipitation far above the usual registered in all the Douro sub regions. There was an increase of aproximatly 40% when comparing this data with past years average values.

    Usually, rain in winter in the Douro is always welcome, because it allows the restoration of the soil water reserves. However, what happened this year was an excess of rain and rain until very late. April and May were also also rainy months and with mild temperatures, below what would be normal.

    At the beggining of spring and in a sensitive and critical phase of the vine and the formation of the grape bunches, as we have seen, rain persisted and temperatures were lower than usual for this time of year, causing a delay of the vine vegetative cycle, and creating favourable climatic conditions for the appearance and development of diseases and fungi on the vineyards, especially mildew, but also powdery mildew, among others, with the consequent need of permanent monitoring and intense work for the necessary phytosanitary treatments.

    As a consequence, there was an increase in production costs and a more than predictable decrease of the vineyard quantitative potencial.

    In May the rain stopped, and the temperature began to rise and close to the usual values for the season. In the months that followed, June, July and August, there were high temperatures, a lot of heat and with little thermal amplitude.
    
    The summer was dry and thus remained until the first week of September.

    The summer heat caused irregular, unbalanced and some delay in maturation (from 1 to 2 weeks when compared with the previous year), as well as a water deficit in the vines that can cause the stop of maturation (in these cases the plant as a natural protection mechanism, according to which, in cases of ambient temperatures above 35ºC, the photosynthesis stops, thus delaying ripening), which at this stage, again implied daily monitoring of the grapes ripeness. And under these conditions, the youngest vineyards and those located at lower levels and the most exposed grapes, are the ones that have suffered most from the heat. 
    In any case, the cooler September nights and especially the rain of September 13, ended up favoring the rebalancing and recovery of the grapes, being very evident this year the heterogeneity of the different rhythms of each region and the differences of each grape variety to reach their ideal maturity stage.

    This was followed by the harvest phase, which in many situations required patience and wide decisions to pause or interrupt the harvest when possible, to start again later and wait for the ideal time to obtain the best possible ripeness in each vineyard plot and according to each grape variety.

    The harvesting at the end of September and beginning of October occured in very good weather conditions and eventually compensated those who waited, the grapes have reahed a better balance, better maturation and better quality.

    The expected quantitative decreases in production remained at between 19% to 27% (reaching in some cases 40%). It was a year in which the knowledge of the vineyard and the very specific conditions of each vineyard parcel proved to be decisive, and of course the strategy dfined according to this knowledge, as well as the monitoring and the rigut time treatments performed in the vineyards.
    Despite all this, it is expected that the quality of the wine from the 2016 harvest will be good, better than all the difficulties of the wine-growing year would suggest, since the results of the fermentations were surprising by the colour and the aromas showed.

    Keeping these informations in mind, which I'am sure will help us to better understand the characteristics of the 2016 Douro wines, we just have to patiently waint... and with some anxiety.

• # Douro: The 2015 harvest report

• # Douro: The 2014 harvest report

©HSM