Well, some of you do and some of you don’t, so for those who don’t know, I’ll try to help.

The Christmas Eve dinner is particularly special for me for several reasons: all the family is together around a table full of traditional dishes; as the time draw on, we talk about old stories. I don’t even know these folks, but we used to remember during this period of the year. There is also the miracle of Jesus and the traditional Midnight Mass (or the Rooster Mass in Portuguese!!). There is the hearth and home, with the biggest blazes of all the Winter’s nights.

And then well, we have the wines we choose for this night. These are wines we first keep in the bottle for some years, then, when you open it, you keep it in the memory, and later you remember and miss it. At our home we will start with a chilled White Port. With the first dish, the boiled codfish we will go for Quinta da Trovisca (codfish needs red!!) and with the roast turkey we will drink Quinta Vale D’Agodinho, a fruity wine and bull bodied with 15% Alc. to snuggle the turkey!!

Of course, after had eaten so much we need something to digest and that is perfect to carry on a long conversation, so lets go for a Port 10 Years Old, which goes also well with the endless Christmas deserts!

To all of you that are part of Quevedo, I wish you a merry Christmas, full of good food and good wine!

Cláudia Quevedo

Now, a few months after I dived in Port (and I have positively dived in it, believe me), I started seeing and drinking it as a part of my life, drinking it before dinner, on the rocks, or with peanuts, on a Saturday afternoon, or with some friends, in the evening, at the Galerias de Paris, the heart of Porto’s night life, where many friends prefer vodkas-orange and whiskys-cola.

I’ve just noticed how, for me, only Port is tasty by itself, but I believe that it may also do well in a cocktail. Good challenge, to find what goes well with Port: Miguel Esteves Cardoso suggested pineapple…one must try it out! If you taste it, let us know.

Back to the subject, with what does Port match, I heard of combinations with music and with food, and I believe that there are many more with landscapes, books, journeys and seasons of the year. With such amount and quality of pairings, I feel that they are only one: Port pairs with Life. Ours!

Pedro Pardinhas

The book’s title is “Diário Douro” ["Douro Diary"] and is made of Miguel Torga’s words [Miguel Torga is my favourite writer, born in and passionate for the Douro valley], words that speak about the Douro’s people, genuine and good people that made the Douro that Torga loved and we like a lot. And between the words, amazing black-and-white photographs.

To be honest, as the helicopter that I dream about every time I go there, this book took me to Pesqueira without the usual car-sickness. By the way, an advice: enjoy the river by train or boat and feel the rythm the taste the perfume of that landscape of stone made wine. Jump at Ferradosa’s train station, close to Quinta Vale D’Agodinho, and there may be a Quevedo passing by to pick you up. Call them!

Next week I wiil write about the organic and biological trend, whuch seams to have arrived to Quevedo. I’m glad it has.

See you. A hug, Pedro

a Baixa do Porto

The Miguel Bombarda Street, in the center of city of Porto, is known by its high concentration of art galleries. Gradually, during last decade, houses and old shops were remodeled into areas dedicated to the art. But just lately some effort has been put in the promotion and  advertising of this space. A sign of those changes comes by the hand of the City Hall, allocating the reconstruction of the street. The works have already begun, including the transformation of part of the street into a pedestrian crossing.

Some new exhibitions  have been inaugurated and in order to increase their impact on the public, all the galleries organized and synchronized their exhibitions calendars, which they change every two months. It has been such a great success that these exhibitions are standing out in the daily culture of the city. There are new shows, street activities, all surrounded by a nice and fun atmosphere. To support the promotion of these activities, there are two sponsors: Porto Lazer and the whisky producer The Famous Grouse, associating their brands with the most cosmopolitan side of the city.

Wouldn’t this be an excellent opportunity to promote the Port Wine in the city which has its name? At least because Miguel Bombarda Street is very close from the Solar do Vinho do Porto and also from the Museu do Vinho do Porto. Indeed, considering all the impact that these exhibitions  have on tourists and on young adults of the city, potential Port Wine consumers, this would be an excellent opportunity to promote the wines between them.

I think it would make sense that the Instituto do Vinho do Douro e Porto supported these street activities, where the relationship between the consumer and the Port could be enhanced. Port Wine would be associated to the art, nice moments, young people and tourists.

I hope soon Porto, city and spirit, find each other again for a perfect port and art pairing.

Bruno Pinto

We started the trip in Cubelles, a nice seaside town 50 minutes south of Barcelona. We decided to get in through the “south door” of the park, this is through Sitges – another seaside town also at the south of Barcelona but much bigger then Cubelles.

Vines in the Parque Natural del Garraf

After leaving Sitges behind, the road was overland. I was tired because the road was so bad (and in addition I was in the back seat), the car was hard and the heat was stifling. I was almost feeling asleep. Up to this point, everything was ok, a simple vacations’ trip. But does this have anything to do with wines? In fact, Yes. Suddenly I saw vines and my heart started beating fast again! There were these surprising vines, growing white grapes from a varietal I could not identify. The grapes were not ripped yet; they had a fresh green skin and a quite tough berry. I could imagine the harvest was still far away, maybe early October. At that time we must had completed the vintage in Quinta Vale D’Agodinho and in Quinta da Trovisca. We must be finishing the harvest in Quinta da Sra. do Rosário, it is always the last one!

It was a big surprise when we discovered this acre of vineyards in the middle of the natural park full of beautiful vines! Between pines and bushes and in the dryness of an austere summer, half a dozen miles away from the Mediterranean Sea, a white wine I would taste one day was growing up! It will not be easy because I could not find any vine-grower from the Penedès DO which had vines in the middle of the Natural Park of Garraf but I’ll keep searching! Until I find it, It will stay in my memory as my 2008 summer crush.

Óscar Quevedo

I discovered this small town 4 years ago after meeting Oscar (Jr). I am from Barcelona (Spain) so this was quite a different environment for me, but when I met this place I just felt in love. The buildings, the kindness of the people, the food, the views, the passion for wines… Everything made this place unique.

One of the most surprising things for me was to see the coexistence -in a relatively small place- of modernity and tradition. On one side I saw a lot of nice restaurants, a cute hotel and beautiful streets and buildings, and on the other side, mixed up with well-dressed tourists, you would find farmers buying fertilizers for their vineyards, these little streets packed with tiny houses that belonged to another time or the bread maker ringing the door-bells of the town to sell his bread. Can you see yourself answering to the doorbell in the middle of Barcelona and saying “ Yes João, two bread loafs and four rolls, please”?? I couldn’t, but know I feel so well when I do!

Another thing that captivated me was the food. It nearly seems ridiculous to say this but here tomatoes taste like tomatoes (100 times better than the ones we buy back at home at the grocery store), the meat -which belongs to the farmer two towns away- is so tasty and everything is natural!. I am going to confess that here I discovered the real flavour of strawberries. Can you imagine? I had to wait 25 years to taste a REAL strawberry with its concentrate and strong sweetness, maybe not as perfect-shaped as the ones I’ve seen but incredibly delicious.

Things here happen without an announcement and it was like this that once, while we were in the Quevedo Winery, appeared Mr. Valentim (the boss of the workers of the family), dressed up in a white suit carrying a bee hive. He showed us how to collect the honey from the hives and we could even taste a piece of wax full of this amazing honey… I wish I could send a piece to each reader of this post (you would love it).

This is an Oasis in the crazy world we live in. When we come here for the weekend, after a long working week in Madrid (4 hours away), this feels like another world: no stress, no pollution, people passionated for everything they do… It is a REAL world.  

I strongly recommend you to come and visit S. João da Pesqueira and feel yourselves all the sensations I tried to transmit you. It is worth it.

I send you my best regards and be happy!

Nadia Adria