Winemaking
Fermentation stopped, work during Christmas
We are in December, very close to Christmas day, but we still have a red wine fermenting in our winery. Honestly, this is not a good thing. The alcoholic fermentation of this wine stopped before all sugars were transformed into alcohol, leading to a very tricky situation for the wine. So much that, if this [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
How we make Port Wine at Quevedo
Port Wine is the most well-known of all Portuguese wines and one of the most respected wines in the world. But there are not that many people knowing how is it made. Port Wine is a fortified wine, it means we add a 77% alcohol to stop fermentation, making it a little bit sweet. But [...]
Farewell post to harvest 2010
We are done! 34 days and 10 hours later, we harvested all of our vines. This is the photo of the last basket of grapes to be taken to the winery. The last vineyard to be collected was Pojares, a property in the family for long time. It is located in the top of our [...]
Fortifying Port Wine – adding alcohol to the must
This photo is a good example of what we have been doing during the last days. After two weeks harvesting, we decided to take a brake so the grapes on the vines can finish the phenolic maturation. All our vineyards located in the bottom of the valley were already harvested. During the next week, should [...]
Sediment of a Port Wine vat
Few months ago I made a post about the sediment of 2009 still wines. Huge amounts of sediment were accumulating in the bottom of the vats. At that time two members of our community, Andy and Derek, were wondering how the sediment of a 2009 Port Wine vat would look like. This photo brings the [...]
Brief report about Harvest 2010
On the 11th day of harvest, here I leave some comments about the current situation: the weather is good, dry and clear, with temperatures between 20º to 30º – still okay to swim in the Douro river day after day musts are showing deeper and deeper colors – best indicator is the skin of my [...]
Happy yeasts cover the top of the tank with foam
This is the fermentation tank that received the first grapes of 2010 harvest. Must is already fermenting and yeasts are so happy for the juice they have inside that are sending a lot of foam outside. Strange way of communicating…! With all this excitement, we can only get a great wine from this tank! Oscar
Quevedo was founded in 1991 as a family owned business in the heart of the Douro valley, responding to the needs of the generations that preceded the associate founders. These ancestors were passionately dedicated to their vineyards and to the culture that surrounded the production of wine. Consequently, the company was created as a seamless marriage between the initial phase of production and the promotion and selling of their wines. Currently, the estate is comprised of 100 hectares located in the regions of Cima-Corgo and Douro Superior, producing both red and port wines from only the five traditional port grapes Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão and Tinta Barroca.