Quinta Do Vallado Vinho da Granja 2018
(Portugal) - [WE 95] [WA 94]

About the Winery:
Over the course of 300+ years, since 1716, Quinta do Vallado has been producing excellent wines in Portugal's Douro Valley. It is one of the oldest and most famous wineries in all the Douro, started by the legendary Donia Adelaide Ferreira, and still belongs to the same family today. It is a sixth-generation winery, currently owned by Jo Ferreira Alvares Ribeiro and Francisco Ferreira. The estate produced Port wines exclusively, until the 1990â's when it expanded production into dry wines.

Vallado has 250 acres of its own vineyards in two sub-regions of the Douro. They are comprised 100-year-old field blend vines, single variety plots and certified organic vineyards. The terraced vineyards are hand-harvested with one row of vines trained to a double cordon trellising system, allowing for good drainage, air flow and erosion control.

Notes From the Winemaker:

The grapes ferment for 10 days in oak barrels (capacity of 4 tons) with temperature control and reassembly with robot.

Produced from a single plot of old vineyards, the Vinha da Granja, planted in 1929. A Field Blend with 34 different grape varieties.

This wine ages in new barrels of 225lt of French oak for 18 months.

Francisco Ferreira & Francisco Olazabal

Tasting Notes:

Ratings & Reviews:

95 Points - Wine Enthusiast:
"Thirty-four-old vine varieties in a field blend are the source of this wine. It is a beautifully generous wine, full of dark tannins along with concentrated black-fruit and wood-aging flavors. The wine has a wonderful streak of acidity at the end. It certainly needs aging, drink this rich wine from 2026." - RV (July 2022)

94 Points - Wine Advocate:
"The 2018 Vinha da Granja is a single-parcel field blend (34 grapes) from 1929 vines. As with the Coroa, another recent brand, these are also higher-altitude vines (about 300 to 350 meters) but later picked. It was aged for 18 months in new French barriques and comes in at 14.8% alcohol. This is on par with the beautiful Coroa, the Reserva and others this issue. We can debate over the years which is more interesting and in which style. (The Coroa, for instance, is by far the most restrained.) They might trade places over the years as they vie for supremacy. They are all pretty fine with plenty of upside potential. Of course, considering the price spike here, that is partly a problem. Time may prove that this is the best of the threealthough I think I'd lean to the Reserva, even without regard to pricing issues. However, it's hard to ignore that this is almost triple the price of the Coroa and almost four times the price of the Reserva. So, what does it do for the extra bucks? This year, at least, it is not showing enough of a differential, but I'd still happily pick it for my cellar (if price were no object). As it opens, this shows remarkable finesse and refinement. The fruit is expressive and a bit forward but nuanced and restrained. It seems at once sumptuous and elegant, sexy and precise. It's a beauty. The question is can it separate itself from its lovely siblings as time goes on?" - Mark Squires (Jan 2021)