Recuperating a traditional vineyard in the Douro Valley — a story in pictures – part I

By | April 1, 2019
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View of the plot that was planted in 2017 taken from the eastern hill which is now being renovated. On this slope – gentle at the top steeper down below — the stone walls folllow the terrain contours. This picture was taken in March 2019 from the hill to the East, during the reconstruction of the walls on this same hill.

Part II – Here

Overall aerial view of the quinta taken from South to North with the southern slope in the forefront. These plots had just been planted — this photo was taken in August 2017.

This vineyard is centuries old and was in bad condition. Three years ago, a recuperation project was initiated. The shape of the original terraces and walls was respected. A huge number of walls had to be rebuilt using schist stones from a local stone mine, similar to the original ones.

My loyal friend Leo watching as the vines start budding in early spring — March 2019. Leo came to live here in April 2017 when he was 4 months old and the vines were being planted. They grew here together since then.

In the Douro Valley tradition schist stone walls have been used for centuries used to build terraces on steep slopes and allow the plantation of vines. These stone walls allow drainage and prevent soil erosion. Some walls follow the terrain contours with elegant curves. In steeper areas, such as the hill on the eastern end, the terrain was changed long ago to give way to higher linear straight walls. This was the norm since the latter part of the 19th century in most of the Douro Valley slopes.

In December 2018 the grapevines had just been trained into the single cordon method.

These terraces were planted in the traditional high-density Douro Valley mode. Vines are planted 80 cms apart from each other and the lines are 140 cms apart. This results in densities of 6,500–7,000 plants per hectare depending on the topography. High plant densities make the vines fight for resources producing modest yields and forcing the roots to grow several meters deep to survive. This provides for good grape maturation in dry summers being one key factor for high quality grapes for winemaking.

High density plantation. Vines are 80 cm from each other and lines are 140 cm apart. Further ahead on the hill at the eastern end there is a plot with terraces sustained by straight walls. At this time the terrain was prepared for plantation.

Roads for machine circulation are carved on the inside of each terrace adjacent to the upper wall. Every vine is no more than 15 meters far from a road. This facilitates viticulture labour throughout the year as well as during harvest.As mentioned above soil erosion is a major concern in mountain viticulture. Therefore these roads are designed with precise lateral and longitudinal gradients so that rain water flows and does not form ponds. A lot of mistakes were made in plantations in the Douro in the 1980s which did not account for soil erosion. In the last two decades viticulturists have revisited the tradional cultivation style, with modern adaptations such as these.The vines shown here were planted in April 2017 and benefited from exceptionally good growing conditions last year (2018) with wet a Spring and a mild Summer. They will produce the first grapes in September 2019.

New vines, planted in April 2017. In March 2019 shoots begin to grow from the buds. These vines will produce the first grapes this year.

The new vineyards are now budding in early Spring while my loyal friend Leo is watching. Leo came to live here when he was 4 months old at about the same time as the vines were being planted on these terraces. They grew together in this terroir. He is most happy when walking with me in these vineyards — in truth, he runs up and down, back and forth, while I walk and look at the vines.Apart from this completely replanted plot rootstocks are being planted in other plots in the midst of very old vineyards (more than 80 years old) to be grafted later with canes from the local vines to keep the character. The result will be a mixture of old and new vines, respecting as much as possible the existing grape varieties including some traditional local clones of Tinta Roriz that made up a significant part of the existing vines.

This the same plot, now looking West towards another hill with steep slopes with old vines. Other plots in this farm hold old vines too which provide a unique character to the grapes and the wine. In these plots the the old vines were kept. The vines that are depleted are gradually being replaced with vitis americana rootstocks that will be grafted with canes from local vines later. This is a process to be executed over the years.

The olive trees that surround the plots were pruned and treated and are growing with renewed vigour. In 2–3 years we expect to harvest a good amount of olives.Other old walls are being rebuilt, and new plots planted on the eastern end hill. As shown before these are straight walls and they are being finished by the end of March. Plantation will take place in April. This small plot will be the only one in this property with white grapes and we will use the native Douro variety Viosinho. This is a sort of an experiment as this property aditionally used to produce only red grapes. Since this variety is known for rapid maturations we will need to be attentive and harvest this plot earlier than the rest.

Recuperating an old wall sometimes requires tearing it down and rebuild it with new stones. The base must be strong so that it can bear the pressure from the terraces especially when water permeates the terrain. Schist saone walls allow drainage and prevent soil erosion.
Walls and terraces reconstruction needs to be executed in steps as earth must be moved from one level to the other during the process.
Following the original wall setting stairs were preserved and rebuilt. They are perfectly integrated in the wall structure and usually no more than 50 meters apart to allow moving between terraces.
The same terrace on April 4. Wooden poles were placed along grooves that were carved on the soil 140 cm apart to mark the plantation lines. The plot is ready for the rootstocks of Viosinho to be planted 80 cm from each other on these lines starting today.
Here is the same plot 10 days after plantation, on April 14.
A cloistered area of the plot freshly planted, photo taken on April 14. This is part of the experiment with Viosinho white grapevines.
View of the hill where Viosinho was planted. We are in the second half of April 2019 and the small vines are growing well after substantial rain over the past two weeks. This vineyard faces West and is open to breezes and air circulation which helps prevent diseases.

Unfortunately one of the walls that was erected in 2017 collapsed over and extension of around 20 meters in March 2018. A few of the old ones fell too. The soil was loose because it had been prepared for plantation and there were landslides that made the walls collapse. These walls had to be rebuilt this year. In one of the terraces that was near a fall line some underground pipes were installed for a more powerful drainage.This property has been in my family for generations and I always felt it is an important part of my roots. I bought it 3 years ago when it was in poor condition with the aim of recuperating in respect of the graceful tradition of the Douro Valley “quintas”. Fortunately most of the original walls and terraces had not been torn down to give way to “modern” vineyards that departed from tradition as occurred in many other properties in Douro. It is rewarding to see now the results of a well planned and executed work. This is a multi-year project and there is still work to do. But he groundwork has been essentially accomplished.I thank the team led by Paulo Macedo from Agro Global, who helped me plan and then has been closely following up all the works. Thanks also to the daily crew of Sílvio, Zé, Jorge, Alcino, Manuel and others who treat the vineyard with care as if it where their own, never forgetting a regard for the aesthetic side. I am thankfull to Francisco Carvalho for arranging this great crew and helping in the plantations in 2017 under difficult conditions. To Orlando for caring about the property. And to Carlos Cardoso for the accurate work in rebuilding the walls.A little history in pictures of where we came from and how we got here.

This how the plot looke like in November 2014, when we were starting to plan the recovery. The vines were in a poor state and many had died. The terrain was filled with weeds and other invasive plants that had been subduing the vines.
This is how the plot looked like in May 2016. The old grapevines, that were mostly dead had been dug out. Then the walls were to be repaired followed by earth moving to form the terrace and carve the road alongside the upper wall. Next the plantation lines were drawn where the rootstocks would be planted, as shown in some of the next pictures.
This is the same plot one year later in June 2017, 3 months after plantation. This was a rather dry and hot month. The first leaves are growing with vigour, but they required substantial watering that was continued throughout that Summer.
Before reconstruction old vines had to be extracted and the terrain cleared so that the walls could be rebuilt. This is the same plot lower down the slope in a steeper section where the walls were mostly destroyed and the terraces damaged by erosion. When walls collapse the earth from the terraces slides down.
View of the South slope from below in October 2016. This was after the terrain had been cleared and before the walls and terraces reconstruction started. The small parcel in the forefront was cleared to be planted too.

The following photos show the evolution of these plots.

This is in April 2017. The walls had been repaired. In the forefront the poles are aligned ready to be erected where the rootstocks are to be planted. On the left of this lot the plantation had been concluded.
A few months after plantation — July 2017
Roughly two years later in June 2019. The vines have been trained and show healthy vigour.

To get here a lot of work was required on the terraces of the south slope.

Walls being rebuilt, February 2017. This work requires machines and manual labour to place the stones with precision.
Grapevine rootstocks being planted in April 2017. The plantation required a precise geometric drawing on the terrain to make the best use of each terrace´s topography. Plantation lines usually follow the lower wall contour with break points at the fault lines were stairs form one terrace to the next are placed.
The property was geo mapped with altimetry by drones in December 2015 to help in planning the work. The plots are georeferenced to a precsion of 10 cm. One day this will be of use for monitoring the vineyards.
This video shows the South slope. It was shot on August 2017, 4months after plantation

Part II – Here