From 9am to 6pm GMT all the steps of a harvesting in the Douro will be broadcast, including the fortification of must for Port Wine. At 5pm there will be an audio connection with the conference room in the BWT, where Ryan Opaz, from Catavino, will be speaking about Social Media in Action.

The S. João da Pesqueira’s Town Hall is providing the technology and video experts for the realization of the live streaming to the BTW. This last one offers the  opportunity to on/off traders and press visitors, to taste small productions of exclusive wines. Quevedo has great expectations about this wine fair as a way to find an importer or distributor for its wines and Ports in the United Kingdom.

After launching the first Port Wine producer blog, Quevedo (which currently grows 250 acres of wines and 50 acres of organic olive trees in S. João da Pesqueira, Douro, Portugal) reinforces its commitment with new technologies using them as a direct and interactive way to communicate with the wine lovers, becoming the first Port producer to stream live the harvest.

We would like to invite you to visit our winery and our vineyards in the Douro valley.

But as some reports and data show, recession is not always a bad thing for the wine business. I have seen a lot of people drinking wine, wine shops and the wine sections of supermarkets have people buying and importers seem to be still looking for European wines.

Thus, the current market situation is not a reason to put me down and I will not throw in the towel: my mission is clear, to find an importer for our wines!

This photo was taken at 5.20am from our friends’ apartment in New Jersey.

Oscar

First time I visited São Miguel I was 4 or 5 years old, not sure exactly. With all the excitement of the travel, in which I would have the companion of my sister and cousins, while having a shower the day before departure, I slipped and suffered a head injury. While running with my mom to the local hospital, I thought I could not board next morning!!

Two weeks ago I revisited São Miguel. I could still remember some places: the black sand beach at the bottom of my uncle’s house; the banana trees, pineapple’s greenhouses (btw with amazing tasting pineapples); the village of Furnas, where during the first time I visited the island, we cooked a stew in geysers. Furnas also has lot of hot springs and a huge pool of yellow thermal water.

I had a great time in São Miguel with my uncles from my dad’s side: his sister Maria do Céu and his brother-in-law Mário; my cousins André and Joana and their husbands, Susana and Paulo. Ah, and of course with the children of each of the couples, Maria and Afonso. I want to go back and I want you to visit. You will not regret! Click here to see more photos.

I brought with me in the bag a bottle of a white still wine from Pico. It was the first time I tasted a wine from this island. It was a Frei Gigante from 2007 harvest, golden straw color, wit flavor of toasted bread, slightly oxidized. On the palate it is mild and with a sweet finish.

Finally, what comes to your mind when talking about Azores?

Oscar

And if you are really lucky, something like one flight in one hundred, you will overfly the Douro Valley at an altitude quite low that you can pictures it from the aircraft. This is a kind of dream that just happened to me once. That time, two or three year ago, coming from Geneva, Switzerland, I could see our Quinta Vale d’Agodinho, our winery and I think I could also see my grandpa’s van. Well, maybe the last one was an hallucination, though I would swear I saw it from the little window of the plane!

No, I was not the lucky guy who made this pictures. They were kindly sent to me by a big Port Lover, Axel Probst from World of Port. Axel is that kind of guy every port maker loves: knows more about Port than myself, respects and promotes Port as a knight and moreover, he is fun!

Do you have any picture those of the kind one in one hundred?

Oscar Quevedo

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On Sunday morning we went to Quinta de Ervamoira. This property, owned by Ramos Pinto, has an extraordinarily beautiful and wide vineyard. I have been waiting for this visit during a long time.  At the end of the tour, we had a tasting of Douro wines from Ramos Pinto: Bons Ares 2007 white, Duas Quintas 2006, Duas Quintas Reserva 2005 and Bons Ares 2006. Funny and educational, we got a better understanding of Ramos Pinto and its wines. Quinta de Ervamoira is worth a visit. Moreover, it has a very kind guide, Sónia Teixeira!

Take a look at the videos of our long lasting visit to Ervamoira. It was actually so long that some friends got upset while waiting for us in Foz-Côa. We couldn’t communicate, there is no network coverage there. Yeah, there are few but fortunately some places where you can stay unreachable!

Oscar Quevedo

After spending the weekend learning and speaking at the I Wine Pleasures Conference in Sitges, Barcelona, I wanted to share the presentation we showed in our talk. I have to confess that I am really happy to see so much interest in winery blogging. At our talk various people from several different fields, including wineries, media bloggers, tour operators and sommeliers were very active in the conversation. Please take a look at the presentation and let me know what you would add to it.

During this windy weekend, I also had opportunity to hear about some interesting olive oil tourism projects around Spain. It was also a great opportunity to learn a little something about how to better market our Organic Olive Oil.

Additionally, I met Ricardo Gomes, from the Portuguese company, Selected Wineries. Ricardo is representing a group of Portuguese wineries determined to promote wine tourism in their regions.

Overall, it was a great weekend, a worthwhile suffering through a little extra wind

Oscar Quevedo

During the event there will be several conferences about wine & tourism and there are also scheduled visits to Cava Village and Torres wineries. Also very interesting will be the Portuguese Wine Tasting on Friday evening (some Port and Douro Wines from Quevedo will be available for tasting) and the Spanish Wine Tasting on Saturday and on Sunday. The tireless Gabriella and Ryan Opaz from Catavino will be live blogging the tasting and you can follow it here.

On Saturday I will presente with Emilio Saez Van Eerd, Export Manager of La Casa de las Vides, a talk entitled Winery Blogging - The blogging as a new marketing tool for a winery. is the other co-presenter. We will try to give our view how blogging can help wineries to promote their wines and the wine tourism. I are sure this will be a great opportunity to meet people from the wine sector and also to learn a lot from the other presentations.

If you live close or you are passing by Sitges or Barcelona you can still register for the event. If you prefer to stay at home, enjoy a glass of wine!

Oscar Quevedo

I would like to show you some places that shouldn’t be forgotten on a two days trip to Porto and that will surprise you.

Casa da Música

A good starting point is the Boavista area, where you can visit the most recent and modern cultural space of the city: Casa da Musica. Going down Boavista Avenue, in direction to the sea, you arrive to the Serralves Museum and Gardens. In this Museum you can find fabulous exhibitions of Portuguese and International contemporary art, you should also take the opportunity to visit its wonderful gardens. If you visit the Museum until 18th January 2009 you will have the opportunity to visit the exhibition of the Spanish sculptor Juan Muñoz, who has a sculpture expose in the old part of the city in the Cordoaria Garden.

Juan Muñoz sculpture in Cordoaria Gardens

And while you are in the downtown, how about a visit to some landmarks of the city, like Tower of Clérigos, Carmo Church, Sé Cathedral and S. João Theater (you can find all information you need in Porto Turismo website). You shouldn’t miss also a walk through Miguel Bombarda Street, where you can find a lots of art galleries to visit.

At night I suggest a walking through Galeria de Paris Street, a new meeting point of the city. This quarter is known for its cosmopolitan side, here is normal to see people from different nationalities who are working or studying in the city and want to have some fun.

Ribeira

The next day, and to end the visit in the best way, nothing better than an afternoon evening in the Cais de Gaia, near the traditional Port Wine cellars. It is the best place to enjoy the sunset reflected on the Douro River, together with friends and a Quevedo Port.

Bruno Pinto

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

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