Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This 800-acre property is just upriver from the dam at the Cachão da Valeira; its quinta buildings include a 19th-century chapel (capela) restored by the Symingtons, who purchased the property in 1989. They now farm 333 acres amid the steep hills and valleys on this south bank of the Douro. Charles Symington makes this wine by blending two small lots; one of touriga nacional and alicante bouchet from low-yielding blocks close to the river, fermented together in a small lagar; the other, picked three weeks later, a co-fermentation of touriga franca and sousão from two blocks that are higher in the hills. They come together in something numinous, in a wine that tastes like the horizon line of the sea, if you could see it from the top of Vesuvio. Somewhere in the insane rush of Douro flavor, in the scents of iodine and savory herbs, the gamey richness of fruit rolling across the palate, the smoky green schist tannins, there’s a line of refinement, a supple beauty that isn’t about aggressive power. The flavor is tremendously long, a rush of energy that will carry this wine for decades.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio is a single vineyard bottling that ranks as one of the finest of the declared Ports. Unlike the maiden 2007, it includes a small proportion of Alicante Bouschet, while the heart of the Capela comes from the “Vale da Escola” plot of Touriga Nacional close to the Quinta house. It is endowed with a heart-warming, refined, elegant bouquet with pure scents of raspberry coulis, apricot jam, macerated small dark cherries and blueberry. Supremely well-defined, it unfolds beautifully in the glass. The palate is full-bodied with thick ripe, slightly chewy tannins and exquisite balance. Examining this nascent Port over several minutes, it is stylistically reminiscent of the Noval’s Nacional, and how can you not resist the tremendous power and “authority” of this Vintage Port that seems self-aware of its class? It climaxes in a copious, lightly spiced, lemongrass-tinged finish that goes on and on and on. What an outstanding Vintage Port! Just 200 cases declared – bottles individually numbered. Tasted May 2013.
Barrel Sample: 95-97
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.