Author Archive

The Douro goes to California

The presentation of film Life on the Douro in California came to the end. Judging by the comments of the people it was a large success. Those who have never been neither in the Douro or Porto, could see how beautiful and breathtaking (using Dominic Symington words) the landscape is and long, complex and puzzling [...]

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Is Port Wine making the population of the Douro richer?

Currently, the global economic situation, with a local and international crisis with reduction of Port Wine production and the difficulties that some vinegrowers are facing, made me reflect about the impact of the Port Wine production in the population of the Douro valley. Is Port Wine really increasing life standards of the population that live [...]

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Life on the Douro in California and Toronto

It has arrived the moment to share with you (at least to some of) the documentary Life on the Douro. I have been talking about it several times during the last year. Almost every single visit that Zev Robinson, its father, was making to the Douro was mentioned here. After the premiere in the Douro [...]

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How does the grape destemmer crusher work?

With the harvest gone, it is time now to talk about one of the most important machines that we use to make wine. The destemmer crusher plays a very important role in the whole process of making wine. This is how it works: First, the grapes get into a cylinder, which is rotating at high [...]

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European Wine Bloggers Conference and a Live dégorgement

Another European wine bloggers conference gone. This time we met in Brescia, Franciacorta, Italy. As expected, there was a big focus on the sparkling wines from Franciacorta, which are nowadays known not only in Europe but a little bit everywhere. As I am not a fan of sparkling wines, I was satisfied to see other [...]

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Douro harvest in the Portuguese television

During the harvest, all those that make a living out of wine are always more excited. Time also moves faster and few hours are left to spend with the family. But harvest is special, so much, that we want to make sure that those who visit the winery or that follow us on-line can have [...]

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Last days of harvest in the Douro valley – 2011, put it on the list

I would like to give you an update about what is going in the Douro valley. The weather has been pretty good, clear and with plenty of sunshine, meaning that the grapes are very healthy and clean. We are now finishing harvest in the vineyards around the winery. Today it rained a bit, for the [...]

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Harvest 2011 – half of the grapes harvested

The second week of harvest is gone and temperatures persist high. Too high for what we wished. Summer is almost over but it is still hot in the Douro. High temperatures make our life both in the vineyards and at the winery much more difficult. In the vineyards harvesters are not as productive as with cool climate. [...]

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Wine Spectator featured our video “How to make Port Wine”

The video we made some months ago, “How to make Port Wine” was shorted and is finalist on Wine Spectator video contest. First, Wine Spectator asked for submissions; then, they selected nine videos for the big final, and now is the time for the public to elect the winner. I don’t really know how close or far are we [...]

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Life on the Douro in the Douro Film Harvest

The 2011 edition of the Douro Film Harvest, which starts today on September 5th, is the festival elected by Zev Robinson to present his newest documentary already mentioned on this blog for a couple of times, Life on the Douro. Zev started shooting for the film over one year ago, which at that time would [...]

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