Category: Sem categoria

The awards for best white and best fortified wine at the latest edition of the Guimarães Wine Fair went to Quinta dos Lagares.

Quinta dos Lagares Reserva branco 2017 and Porto Vintage 2016 came first in their categories in the tasting at the Guimarães Wine Fair, which took place between November 22 and 24, 2019, at the Guimarães Multiusos.

This nationwide fair allows participants to taste and also buy wines, making it one of the largest temporary wine fairs in Portugal.

Organized by E.Leclerc, the fair includes guided tastings with leading sommeliers, a presentation of new products and a professional tasting to choose the best wines of the event, which includes 150 producers from all over the country.

“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.

The forest at Quinta dos Lagares was recently awarded Sustainable Forest Management Certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), making it the first and only one in the Douro to be certified by this demanding organization.

Quinta dos Lagares extends over a natural amphitheatre that reaches its highest point on the Favaios plateau, at 560 meters, and descends to 260 meters, close to the Pinhão river.

These conditions, combined with a history of less intensive land use, have resulted in a diverse and rich landscape, characterized by a balance between the production and protection components, where the ratio between vineyard area and spontaneous vegetation area is 1 to 1, possibly one of the highest in the Douro Demarcated Region.

The forest cover is made up of cork oaks, pine forests and Mediterranean scrubland – the latter composed of the typical species of the region, especially the strawberry tree, but also including holm oak, juniper, black oak and chestnut – and extends throughout the property, cutting through the agricultural areas and thus ensuring a discontinuity of vegetation that enriches the landscape and contributes to maintaining biodiversity, while ensuring more balanced water and soil management.

The forest area has also been actively managed through the positive selection of undergrowth and the management of cork oaks, strawberry trees and pine trees, the densification of some patches and the planting of other native species. In order to take advantage of and enhance this floral biodiversity, honey is farmed (in consortium with a local producer).

The water from the various existing mines is stored in different tanks, avoiding the use of pumps whenever possible.

In addition to the vineyard being managed under the rules of Integrated Production, and the olive grove being certified as organic, all the other activities on the property are carried out taking into account water consumption and quality, soil protection and the maintenance of biodiversity.

The wine production process is also carried out within the criteria of no or minimal use of exogenous products, a reduced use of plastics and the use of materials that reduce the environmental footprint, such as the use of lightweight bottles (approximately 60% of the weight of a normal bottle).

The olive oil produced by Quinta dos Lagares has once again won the gold medal at the prestigious New York International Olive Oil Competition.

Zabodez comes from the olive groves of Quinta dos Lagares, some of which are centuries old and are currently maintained in duly certified organic farming. These are olive groves in the Douro tradition, in which the typical varieties of the region are mixed and randomly distributed: Madural, Cobrançosa, Verdeal, Cordovil, Bical and Galega, except in the most recent one-hectare grove, which is full of Cobrançosa and is just starting production.

A batch of olive oil created by consultants Nuno Rodrigues and José Alberto Pereira, from the Escola Superior Agrária de Bragança, Zabodez is produced in Agrifiba’s modern mill and is obtained using exclusively mechanical and cold processes, and is classified as extra virgin. It has very low acidity (<0.2), a medium green fruitiness and an aroma with fresh notes of cabbage, grass, tomato stalks, green apples, green tomatoes, banana peel and dried fruit. In the mouth, it reveals a slight bitterness and a strong, persistent spiciness.

It is marketed directly by us (geral@quintadoslagares.pt) and is also on sale in some gourmet stores, such as the LOA store in Lisbon or the Famiglia Restaurant in Porto (Leça do Balio).

The world-renowned olive oil competition has been held in New York for the last six years and this year involved around 1,000 olive oils from 27 countries. The awards are announced during a gala in New York attended by producers, distributors and international media, in an event that highlights this product of excellence from the Mediterranean.

The winemaker of Quinta dos Lagares wines, Luís Leocádio, was voted Revelation Winemaker of the Year 2018 at the 22nd edition of Revista de Vinhos’ Best of the Year, Portugal’s most prestigious wine event.

A family friend and frequenter of Quinta dos Lagares since childhood – Luís’ father is the estate’s caretaker – the young winemaker hails from the village of Trevões, S. João da Panasqueira, Douro, where he also has a small personal wine production project.

He graduated in agronomic engineering from the Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu in 2010, and has also specialized in viticulture and oenology, working in this field on several farms.

The dynamism of the Portuguese wine sector is an invitation to discover wines of a different style, challenges Visão magazine in its first issue of 2019. In this spirit, and among the recommended proposals, is our Quinta dos Lagares Mourisco rosé: “A rare variety in rosés, it has a beautiful light pink color, a very fresh aroma and a smooth palate with a structure that allows and appreciates aging.”

“After a long period of mastery of new winemaking methods, with modern technologies, here comes a movement in the opposite direction, wanting to recover ancestral processes, old vineyards, despised grape varieties, lost tastes,” says the magazine, leaving the challenge “Let’s give it a try.”

The Quinta dos Lagares Mourisco rosé also scored well in Grandes Escolas magazine: “A beautiful, personalized rosé for the table.”

The olive oil produced by Quinta dos Lagares has won the gold medal at the New York International Olive Oil Competition, the world’s most prestigious olive oil competition.

The awarding of the gold medal to Quinta dos Lagares’ organic olive oil, Zabodez, was made by an international jury of 18 experts, including the Portuguese Francisco Pavão, and took place at the end of April 2018 in New York City.

Zabodez olive oil owes its name to an ancient stream that ran through Quinta dos Lagares, as mentioned in the Pombaline demarcation act, in which the quinta is included.

Olive oil production at Quinta dos Lagares is a tradition that dates back to 1920, when our family bought the property from an Alentejo farmer who, as well as planting vines, expanded the olive grove and installed a watermill that was in operation until the 1940s.

In our century-old olive groves, which are currently maintained in duly certified organic cultivation, the Madural, Cobrançosa, Verdeal, Cordovil, Bical and Galega varieties are mixed and randomly distributed, except in the most recent one-hectare grove, which is pure Cobrançosa, irrigated and just starting production.

Obtained using exclusively mechanical and cold processes, Zabodez olive oil is classified as extra virgin. It has very low acidity (<0.2), a medium green fruitiness and an aroma with fresh notes of cabbage, grass, tomato stalks, green apples, green tomatoes, banana peel and nuts. In the mouth, it reveals a slight bitterness and a strong, persistent spiciness.

The extensive, organic production of Zabodez olive oil is Quinta dos Lagares’ commitment to superior quality and less quantity, with only 1500 liters of oil available. Would you like to order your Zabodez?

The wine and gastronomy critic for Jornal de Negócios was “surprised – and in a good way” by Quinta dos Lagares Mourisco 2015. Edgardo Pacheco argues that this is a “special rosé at different levels”, due to the particular aromas and flavors it presents and because “it is the result of a grape variety that is not very popular in the Douro and is practically unknown to consumers”.

The journalist also gives an account of the originality and peculiar history that gave rise to Quinta dos Lagares’ rosé, pointing out that “Mourisco is a red variety that exists in old vineyards, but because it gives wines with little color, it is no longer interesting”, with the aggravating factor that Mourisco bunches ripen early and are in a very advanced state of ripeness when the harvest takes place. It was, in fact, because they were confronted with this reality in 2014 that the Quinta dos Lagares team decided, in 2015, to pick the Mourisco grapes earlier so that they could be used for a rosé.

“It was a great idea,” says the journalist, “not only because this is the only Mourisco rosé in Portugal, but above all because it’s a model wine. In other words, it’s fresh, with unusual aromas that aren’t cloying at all.” To accompany pasta, grilled meats, salads or sushi,” he concludes, “this is a wine that was born out of a happy accident. It may well make some history in the Douro and beyond”.

The Revista de Vinhos article on Quinta dos Lagares and its wines, published in April 2017, recalls the “privileged location of the vineyards and their geostrategic diversity” and the importance of teamwork – “the boldness of winemaker Luís Leocádio and the support of João Pissarra, in viticulture and Port wines” – in creating a “cohesive synergy with fruitful results”.

The article also recalls that “Quinta dos Lagares has made history among Douro wines”, and presents the portfolio of wines, a rosé “made with Mourisco and a pioneer on the market”, four reds and a white. A 2015 Colheita Port, still in the IVDP approval phase, will embody Quinta dos Lagares’ centuries-old tradition of Port wine production, the publication also says.