Quinta de Vale de Pios
Region Douro, Portugal
Winemaker Joaquim Almeida
Joaquim is a one man team planting, tending to, harvesting, and vinifying the wines in his small cellar near the Spanish border. Barca d’Alva is the closest village nearby and also serves as the last stop on the Douro River before it becomes the Duero in neighboring Arribes DO. This region is particularly dry-only 6 inches of rain per year give this essentially desert climate the ability to grow only grapes, olives, and almonds. The soil is a veritable mosaic of broken quartz, granite, shale, and a subsoil of vertical black schist. Temperatures peak well over 105 degrees daily in the summer, but the night time temperatures drop to the upper 50s and provide a great level of freshness and acidity to the grapes.
Philosophy: "After hours of hard studying military and geological maps and lots of kilometres of dust we (finally) found the perfect site, the farm Vale de Pios. At the winery we try to combine the best of the old traditions with modern practices. Older traditions include the use of mills for the “cut”, and using a thin layer of carbon dioxide for better extraction. These are combined with modern vinification technology, like extended fermentation in vats using temperature and reassembly control undoubtedly makes the finished wines less aggressive. Our wines age in new french oak wood barrels in a warehouse with thick stone walls that are able to control the thermal inertia, allowing good conditions of temperature and moisture before bottling. Wines are aged until they are ready to be enjoyed, they are not released as soon as possible."- Joaquim Almeida
Winery Data
Vineyard Size10 ha
Total Winery Production96,000 Bottles
FarmingOrganic
Something RandomGraduate of architecture, handball player, loves mountain sports and being with people. "Yesterday I was working hard all morning on the vineyard and the night I went to a gala dinner. Being vigneron allows this even if it is not always easy to wash your hands!"
Region Map
