Vineyards

How to graft grapevines

Phylloxera set a new paradigm in the viticulture of the Douro valley and in almost every vine growing country. Since 1850 that this tiny insect, phylloxera, that feeds up from the leaves and roots of ungrafted vines, changed the way grape producers are growing vines. Until then vines were planted in the soil, growing their [...]

---

2011 harvest update after raining in the Douro valley

There are some developments in the last stage of the grape ripeness, few days before harvest starts. Last Sunday night it rained heavily in the Douro valley. This rain was very welcome as it did not damaged the berries and irrigated the dry soils of the vineyards. With this extra humidity in the soil, grapes [...]

---

2011 harvest: first control of the grapes development cycle

After one month of absence due to my wedding, which was in July 15th, I am now back with fresh news from the vineyards. As usual, we make our first maturity control on August 10th and this year was not different. This first contact with the new grapes reveals a first rough idea of when [...]

---

The Douro was under attack: midew came and left a big mark

Growing grapes is far from being a predictable process as we rely a lot on weather conditions. Sometimes too much. So much that adverse weather can destroy what we think is a good crop. And that is what happened with our Tinta Roriz. While we were at Vinexpo, a trade fair in Bordeaux, between the [...]

---

Climate change: how it is going to affect viticulture in the Douro Valley

Editor’s note: One of these days, I was going with Luiz Alberto from Porto to the Douro when we started talking about the eruption of the Icelandic vulcano Eyjafjallajökull in April last year and its effects on grapes ripening in the Douro. Other discussions followed. Suddenly, I challenged Luiz to write a paper about how [...]

---

Torto River and its similarities with the Douro River

The heavy rains of the last days painted the Torto river of very unusual colors for this time of the year. This light brow/ golden color, that is in the origin of the name of the Douro river, which in Portuguese means golden, use to be seen during the winter, when the rains bring down [...]

---

Warm temperatures and rain mean early harvest

During the last days, the weather in the Douro has been very unstable. It quickly changes from clear to a heavy storm, similar to tropical countries. Temperatures move between 15ºC and 28ºC in the middle of the afternoon. And when it rains it seems like it is going to be the end of the world. [...]

---

Shooting control in the Douro – removing what is not necessary for the vine

Every year after the harvest, the vines go through a dormant phase. At the end of the winter, this dormant phase finishes and the new shooting comes out from the bud breaks selected during pruning. Most of the time, the vines shooting is excesive as growing all this new steams is a heavy task for [...]

---

Another generous harvest in the Douro?

The new vegetative cycle for the vines is at full steam. After pruning the vines during the Winter, at a time that vines show very little activity, with Spring comes bud break and flowering to the vineyards, bringing new green fresh colors to the Douro, while hiding the brown color of stones and soil. This [...]

---

Douro, the narrow valley

The Douro Demarcated Region spreads over a total area of 250,000 hectares, with around 46,000 hectares planted with vines. It extends from the boarder with Spain, in the Douro International area, where the river divides the Portuguese and Spanish territory, to Barqueiros, on the north bank of the Douro river. As you may know, the [...]

---