As the harvest draws to a close and the leaves begin to turn, a calm descends on the Douro Valley as the port begins its maturation journey. Following a very hot and dry summer with the highest recorded temperatures throughout July in 140 years, yields were very low. Our viticulture and winemaking teams were obligated to be extremely focused and draw on their experience and knowledge of our vineyards. Due to the conditions throughout the weeks leading up to harvest, the picking process at Quinta dos Malvedos was considerably shorter than previous years, lasting around 2.5 weeks as opposed to the usual 5 weeks.
Bernardo Napoles, the estate’s winemaker commented: “It has been a challenging harvest but we have produced some excellent wines with great concentration as a result of the low yields.” We look forward to seeing how these unique wines develop over the coming months.