Roy Hersh also writes a monthly newsletter for its subscribers. One of the topics of the newsletter is “A Question for the Trade”, which, as the name says, is a question from Roy or the FTLOP fun to the Port Wine Producers. For the December edition, Roy also invited Quevedo to participate, and we are very proud for this first collaboration in Roy’s newsletter. Well, I would like to suggest you to visit the web, participate in their forum and subscribe Roy’s newsletter. Especially for Port Wine lovers, the newsletter and the forum deserve to be read.

Oscar Quevedo

Some months ago, I heard that for Mário Ferreira, the man that transports most people up and down the Douro RIver (he owns Douro Azul cruises), The World is not enough. Therefore, he decided to embark in a spacecraft to travel in space, and he’ll be the first Portuguese doing it; just like a modern Gil Eanes!

I read yesterday that, differently from the Portuguese explorers, he is not planning to leave a stone evidence that he has been there. He has just had a much better idea: bring to the space a bottle of Port Wine, that first to arrive to such heights.

Here is the challenge: make Quevedo the so called flying wine. In facto, there is a number of reasons that makes logical the choice of Quevedo as the highest Port ever. I could speak about the family, the Quintas, the terroir, the taste, the nose, the colour, the perfume… I could write about all that, but I’d be just inventing excuses.

Quevedo will be the first because a wine that conquers France and Belgium and that is about to delight London, deserves the space conquer. Dear Mário, the bottle is on its way!

A hug,

Pedro

Lost in the Beach - Speaking German?

My parents use to go to the south of Portugal, to Algarve, during the summer for a two-week vacation on the beach. I was 2 years old and while I was playing in the sand with another fellow of my age, our huge castle of sand needed more water so I got up, took the bucket and went to the water. Then, after grabbing some water, in my way back to the “castle” I missed the track.. I was lost. My parents started to look for me immediately, each one to a different direction of the beach. They walked and walked but nothing. Each of them thought the other had found me and therefore they went back to the “castle”. Well, none of them found me. Several minutes later, a tall, strong and blond German (blond like me!!) had a kid on his shoulder, walking in the beach and waiting for someone to claim for the castle builder, I mean, me!!

My granddad is 93!!

Yes, and I am very proud of him. He goes to the vineyards and to the winery every day; still coordinating the employees; demanding and always active, my Avô Joao loves to drink a glass of Port after lunch (though the doctor - my mum - had forbade it to him some years ago due to a heart attack)!!

Farming my own vegetable garden

I’ve always been very close to the nature and to the land. One day, when I was 14 years old, I visited the vegetable garden of one of our employees, Sr. Joao. His garden was full of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions, lettuces and much much more. I saw it so beautiful that when I got home I said to my parents that I wanted to grow a vegetable garden. I imagined it in the back of our house, where I used to play soccer with my friends. I asked one of the employees to come with a tractor to work the land, and Sr. Joao helped me to plant the vegetables and taught me how to irrigate them correctly. Well, very busy but wonderful time. Ah, how did I get revenues to compensate the initial investment (tractor, Sr. Joao’s work, seeds, water pump, etc)? I made an agreement with my mum and she would buy me all the vegetables she needd for the kitchen!! And at the end of the campaign I had some more money in my pocket!

Wine & Finance

I do not know if wine and finance combine; do winemakers get good returns for their investments? And do investors know to differentiate good and bad wine? Well, I love wine and I love finance. I started my career in Asset Management and then Private Banking and I loved it. What you probably do not know is that i was 13 when I first invested my money in the equities. At that time I had to go to a bank desk to give the buy and sell orders.

Soccer with broken foot

I love to play soccer and I am unconditional fan of FC Porto. During three years I played as a goal-keeper in the young team of my village. Before that, I used to play in a square, in front of my grandparents house, with all my colleagues from school. One day, when I was playing with my cousins and sister, I broke my left foot. As expected, my mama forbade me to play soccer. But one day I couldn’t resit it and after school I joined my team!! I do not remember if my team won but I think my mum does not know about this!!!

I love Francesinha

Francesinha is a typical dish from Porto. It is made with pan loaf, cheese, meet, sausage, ham and at the top a delicious sauce, almost secret! I eat it every single time I visit Porto! And to find the best places I ask my friend Jose Luis, he always guides me!

Who will I tag:

Blog de Laranja - André Ribeirinho, who runs this blog, is also co founder of adegga, a social wine discover. As an entrepreneur by himself he must have some nice stories worth to know.

For the love of Port - In a blog of a Port wine producer we must tag someone who loves Port as much as we do. I would love to hear from one of the leading Port Wine authorities, Roy Hersh.

The Wine Sleuth - Denise Medrano, an American wine lover living in London, told me she loved Warre’s Optima 10 Years Old Tawny, a Port from the Symington family. Lets hear more from her!

Copo de 3 - I have recently met Joao Pedro in a wine tasting. But we almost had no time to talk. It is time to hear some more from him!

Wine Conversation - This active and energetic blogger, fan of Rioja wines and always trying to promote the wine, is someone I would like to know much better. Do you want to start Robert McIntosh?

Wijnkronieken - Is a Dutch wine blog ran by Mariëlla and Nico. They use to write in Dutch so I have to use a translator program to read their posts. I hope this time they wright in English!!

Until my next post,

Oscar Quevedo

Starting for Portuguese media, I use to go to Revista Blue Wine to keep me updated about the news of the wine sector in Portugal. Revista Blue Wine is also monthly hard cover magazine you kind find in the main news-stands.

As blogging from a winery is something really new in Portugal, started by Cortes de Cima during the first half of 2008, and followed by us in July, I always want to know what our colleagues and friends are doing. And they always have some fun stories and news to share. Visit them here.

I could not finish this first post about what blogs I use to read without mention my main source of information. Catavino or if you prefer Ryan and Gabriella Opaz are the definitive bloggers writing about Portuguese and Spanish wines. Beside their deep knowledge about Iberian wines and food, they are also two nice Americans. Visit them!

I will come back soon with some news from Belgium.

Oscar Quevedo

So, I am Oscar Jr., I was born in 1983, in Viseu, Portugal, city where my parents had lived for some years before I had come to the world. But the really town of my life is S. João da Pesqueira, as we like to say, the heart of the Douro Valley. Almost all my youth was spent there, between vines and barrels, where my parents, my grandparents and my great grandparents have been making Port Wine.

In 2001 I went to Porto for the University. I studied Economics in the University of Porto until 2005, when I started my career in finance in the Portuguese bank BPI. One year later I went to the center of the Europe to work also in Finance in Switzerland and I am now working in Madrid, Spain.

These five years I lived in Porto marked a special period of my life, where I lived through really amazing experiences. I had the opportunity to make very good friendships (Bruno and Pedro who are also blogging here are just a small example). But the University also stands out because was during this period I started to understand the business of my family. I figured out wine is not just romance as you also have some drama and pain. I also started to drink wine more often and not just in the special moments I was used to drink when living with my parents.

I started to miss the Douro and to feel I just was fulfilled when was walking through the vines or riding the bicycle uphill and downhill. Even nowadays is hard for me to spend more than one or two weekends away from my little town. My friends say I love it because I am not living there. Well, I have to find it out!

Oscar Quevedo

Editor’s note: Since 2002, my friends from University have come to our winery one week-end during the harvest, helping us to pick-up grapes, to bring it to the winery and also to make wine. This year the ritual was the same and we asked João Sarmento to write about that week-end and post it in our blog. There were two previous posts (1, 2) made during that week-end and now João is posting the last one, in which we also have a video produced by Renato Lima with the collaboration of Ana Isabel Fonseca. I I would like to say a thank you to all of them, not just by the post but mainly for those great moments we always have when we are together. Oscar Quevedo.

Rise and shine sleepy heads!

Today the makeup and high heals can stay at home, for the ladies. Men don’t need to shave or use a tie. The day is fully dedicated to the rocky soil of Douro’s region and its richness. You have to be prepared for a dirty pair of hands and a sweaty shirt. You have to be prepared for companionship, for a smile in the face of your friends, with a beautiful landscape as background.

The harvest begins at the first hours of the morning, when the first sunbeams touch the delightful bunches in the vineyards.

This year we went to Valongo dos Azeites, a small village 20 Km from S. João da Pesqueira. It’s very frequent a producer to have his properties in a 25 Km radius of its cellar. The terrain is rough and the people of the region know how to perform small miracles and take advantage of every little corner. This small portion in particular has perfect conditions for white grapes.

Scissors ready. Men and women ready. Boxes spread in the field. Let the games begin!

Four hours of recollection and enjoyment. Not a healthy grape can be left behind. This fortune can’t be wasted.

Let me tell you a small episode that shows how far goes the commitment of Quevedo to their land. During the collection somebody found a small almond tree right in the middle of the vineyards. The tree was young, three years at the most, and could not grow in that place. It could be rapidly ripped out but it will not survive. Oscar had a plan. We had to take it with maximum care, so it could be replanted in a proper location. To me this shows respect for ecological values and a profound conscience of balanced agriculture.

Then, came the return to the cellar. A calm trip because the cargo was precious and the road was twisty; a sinuous path, full of ups and downs, like the most of this region.

At the arrival to the cellar, all the big machines were ready to process the 1.250 Kg that we’ve catch. A couple of minutes and all the branches were separated from the grapes that followed to the massive stainless containers. There the fermentation began. And that was the beginning of a complex natural process, which transforms grape juice in the tasteful Quevedo White Port.

I let you with a small video, which shows all the activities.

João Sarmento

Related Posts:

Tired Men and Women, a Few Scratches, the Birth of a Magic Quevedo White Port

Coming up soon: The Mistery of the Harvest at Quevedo’s Winery

It was the second time I trod grapes in a lagar. The first time was last year, with the same friends but in Quinta de Ventozelo. Some people prefer the wines from this traditional method of vinification, others say the results are similar when compared to fermentation in a tank with mechanical crushing. Well, lets specialists debate!

The must was very cold in the beginning, around 53º F, but when we started to move around the lagar, it started to get warmer. The grapes had been harvested that day and they weren’t fermenting yet. In the first 15 minutes, we maintained a military discipline, standing all together in a single file row, patiently moving back and forward. But the “freedom” which traditionally comes approximately 2 hours after treading, for us, came earlier, as directed by the experienced winemaker, Sebastião Mesquita. We started to develop random movements in the lagar, while chatting and complaining about the backaches we started to feel after 20 hours awake. It was a late night, we were very tired but really happy, making wine with our friends while tasting the extraordinary Ports of Quinta das Aranhas, what else could you ask for?!?

Nadia Adria

Beatriz taking sun

Hello, here I am again, this time writing from the beach, as we are spending a week of vacation in Algarve. This much desired vacation is very useful to reload batteries for the upcoming vintage and to take Beatriz to the beach.

By the way, I had never talked about the little Beatriz, my daughter who last August 18th was 6 months old and for the first time went to the beach. She liked it very much but we were not lucky because the water is cold. It doesn’t seam the usual warm Algarve water. She just gets her feet and hands wet, nothing else, even for me it is hard to swim. It is in these moments I remember and miss the Douro Valley in the hot Summer time. Even for the natives varietal vines the Summer is hard but it is strong enough to ripe the berries and get those full-bodied Ports, like a Vintage or LBV. And when vacation is over and we are back to S. João da Pesqueira, I have to handle ripping controls in Quinta da Alegria, Olgas and Quinta Vale D’Agodinho. I am really anxious to check the first results, I think the harvest is one week late.

I will keep you informed!

Cláudia Quevedo