Not suprisingly, their stand was continually full of people milling with curious stares and outreached hands. And upon first taste of the free CaipiRoyal, satisfied grins left the table sharing their discovery with others. Consequently, I had to try it, and I must confess, I liked it. It is very sweet, easy to drink and fresh. Would I drink it in a bar? Yes, I would!

Portugal and Brazil are CaipiRoyal’s main target markets. Real Companhia Velha has been presenting the cocktail in several restaurants/bars in Porto, Lisbon and in Algarve; focusing on countries where the original caipirinha is best known, while keeping away from more traditional Port Wine markets like United Kingdom. Indeed, in the English version of the web page, information on the CaipiRoyal can just be found in the news section, while in the Portuguese version there is a tab listed on the main page titled Caipi Royal.

I do not know if Quevedo will ever have its own version of Caipirinha. But what is indisputable is that Port producers are struggling hard to get the attention of younger consumers with lighter, easy-drinking and trendy versions of Port.

After Croft and Real Companhia Velha, who will be the next?

Oscar Quevedo

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

Excruciating back pain and a smile in the face, that’s how we feel.

I’m too tired to tell you the full version of the story but I can give you de bottom line: Quevedo’s family knows how to receive their friends, and know how to do some of the best wines in the region.

I’ll rest for half a century (like the finnest Port Wines) and then I will make a detailed report of all the activities. For us was a funny adventure, to you just the birth of a magic Quevedo White Port.

João Sarmento

These debates are also taking place in the EWBC network and I think I can present you a Port Wine producer’s point of view. So what are Port Wine companies using as closure?

All the port wine producers use cork in their wines. Nevertheless, there is at least one company - Castelinhos Vinhos - using plastic cork for some cheaper wines sold in the UK and in Germany. Besides this exception, the industry uses t-caps for the cheaper wines like standard Ruby, Tawny and White and cork for the remaining high quality ports. For a premium ruby port, we will use better cork than for a premium tawny, because the former’s aging process occurs mainly in the bottle, where it can stay for some decades; while the latter is bottled ready for drinking, after having aged in wood.

In my opinion, Port Wine will resist to the new wave of screw cap and plastic plug used in table wines. Port Wine is a traditional drink also in this sense, and customers would hardly accept a different closure than cork. Cork allows a slow oxidation of the wine, which is complementary to its aging process. Moreover, cork is the closure with longest expiration date. We also know that there have been improvements in the cork’s quality, as a result of the fact that the leading cork producers, and their association, have been doing important research to reduce cork’s bad influence in wine. Curiously, the last table wine I tasted, yesterday at dinner with a friend who also attended the I EWBC, was infected with TCA!!

But regardless of one bad experience, Quevedo Estates will continue to use cork for its Port Wines and also for its table wines. It just makes sense.

Oscar Quevedo

Color Changing in Quinta Vale D'Agodinho

Hello, I am Cláudia Quevedo and I want to talk to you about the color change of the grapes. This phase is a beautiful moment for both, vines and farmers. The vineyards become all coloured- from the green of the leaves to the blackish of the grapes- and farmers feel closer the hustle and bustle of the harvest. Therefore, all the preparations must be done so that when the magic moment arrives, all is ready.

Here in  the Quevedo vines, the color change arrived a couple of weeks ago to the following vineyards: Vale D’Agodinho, Alegria and Olgas. Quinta da Trovisca, which is a little bit higher than the others is starting to get colour, especially the castes Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional. The Tinta Roriz is a little bit delayed and the Sousão, which is always late, starts to show its first coloured berries.

Regarding the upper vineyards, close to the winery in S. João da Pesqueira, the colour change it is starting to show up.

This year, in general the maturation process is a little bit delayed. Our prevision is to start the harvest the first days of September, depending on the temperatures in the vineyards near the Douro river. Anyway, we will start this week to check the maturation levels of the berries, that will end with the harvest.

In the winery we are already preparing the equipment for the great moment: now we are washing and disinfecting the cubes, vats, tanks, pumps, mix pumps, the crusher, de-stemmer, press, filters, etc. Everything must shine and work perfectly for the harvest so next week we are going to check every single machine in the winery.

While we are getting everything ready to receive the little princesses of the Douro, the vines are also preparing themselves to give excellent wines. For now, the weather is on our side and we hope it stays like this until the great moment.

Cláudia Quevedo