Month: June 2019

“Quinta dos Lagares has everything needed to produce great Douro wines: new high altitude vineyards, old vineyards located at a lower elevation and with excellent exposure, a great diversity of grape varieties and, very importantly, a proven terroir.” This comprehensive look by the journalist serves to introduce the wine featured in the edition of Fugas magazine, Público newspaper, Quinta dos Lagares Reserva white 2017: “A blend of Rabigato and Viosinho, it originates from the plots that Quinta dos Lagares owns right on the edge of the Favaios plateau, at an altitude of around 600 meters. It’s a mature white, with barrel aging and excellent freshness. The toasted wood still stands out a little, but what deserves to be appreciated is the flavor and the bittersweet richness of the fruit, the breadth of the mouth, the good balance that the acidity ensures. If it’s this good, you can imagine what it would be like if it had more time in the cellar.”

Suspended over the landscape, the new tasting room at Quinta dos Lagares inaugurates a new wine tourism service in one of the Douro’s emblematic valleys, the Vale de Mendiz.

Quinta dos Lagares is a family project with a history and a privileged location in the Mendiz Valley, a legacy that Pedro Lencart and his wife Isabel Sarmento want to preserve by investing in the production of quality wines. The opening of a tasting room and wine tourism services on the estate is an example of this commitment and perseverance, explains the estate’s current manager, Pedro Lencart: “Welcoming people and selling wines outside the winery can make an important contribution to publicizing and affirming small quality projects like Quinta dos Lagares, not least because of the growing number of tourists in the Douro, and not just in the summer.”

Overlooking the vineyards and centuries-old olive groves of the quinta, the new tasting room supports the program of visits, with two versions, one shorter, which includes a route through patches of native forest in mortórios and high-altitude vineyards on the Favaios plateau (5 euros) and the other, of around two hours, which includes a mountain route, of medium difficulty, which passes through centuries-old olive groves and cork oaks and old vines, ending with a visit to the lagares and chapel of the quinta (10 euros).

The tastings available range from three to five wines and are priced at five or 12 euros (an extra five euros if you include Vintage Port or the top-of-the-range Vinhas Venhas 44). A tasting of the organic olive oil produced on the estate, Zabodez, is also available (2.5 euros). Visits can be arranged by calling 938 353 308 or emailing geral@quintadoslagares.pt.