In the eastern edge of the Douro Wine Region, close to the border with Spain, among the breathtaking landscapes of the International Park, there is an estate with 150 hectares of high vineyards that is called Colinas do Douro. In that Estate, the respect for the land and the wisdom of men have created a portfolio of elegant, fresh and mineral wines that the world Critic soon recognized.
The reach the biodiversity that hides in the never ending granitic planes and schist cliffs of Parque Internacional do Douro is extraordinary. In the Estate where the elegant Colina do Douro wines are created we can also watch the Griffon, the Golden Eagle, the Egyptian Vulture, the Deer and the Boar.
When a wine producer finds himself among such richness of fauna, flora and overwhelming landscape, it comes as no surprise the almost religious respect he develops for the terroir. It is that sacred respect that the wines offer since their creation.
The regional vine varieties such as Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz – among the red -, or the white Rabigato and Viosinho, reach a supreme expression of freshness and minerality.
Starting with the introductory portfolio of Colina do Douro Superior wines, the red presents ripe cherry color; flower, blackberry and carob aroma. It is a balanced, involving wine with velvety tannins, deep and unctuous. It contrasts remarkably with the white, full of freshness, concentrated and acidic, with subtle orange, melon aromas and hints of ripe citrus fruit. Even the rosé , made with Touriga Nacional, so aromatic, with its raspberry hints, its fineness, its floral charm reveals the best expression of the portfolio.
The monovarietal Verdelho and the Reserva wines are also remarkable. The first, straw-colored, reveals strong mineral hints with white flowers and lemon verbena. It is an intense wine, with a well incorporated acidity that has fermented in stainless steel for 20 days and has a stage of six months in lees with batonage. It is a surprise.
Caso ainda mais sério são o monovarietal Verdelho e os Reserva. O primeiro, amarelo-palha, revela fortes notas minerais, flores brancas e limonete. É um vinho intenso, com uma acidez bem integrada, que fermentou em inox 20 dias e estagiou sobre borras com batonage durante seis meses. Uma surpresa.
The red is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinto Cão. It is a wine full of character that has aged for 12 months in used barrels where it acquired hints of dried fruit and nutmeg that add to the primary aromas of fruit and broom. Very fresh and mineral, it is a wine with strong tannins that has earned, in the 2013 harvest, 91 points in the Wine Enthusiast. The white Reserva has proven to be a remarkable wine, very lively and very fine with great range and delicacy, ready to evolve.
A special reference should, moreover, be made to Quinta da Pedra Cavada, Grande Reserva Tinto. Made from old vineyards that grow 450 meters high, it combines Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinto Cão in a wine that has been aged in new French oak barrels for fifteen months. It is a very classy wine with intense color, opaque, complex nose with ripe dried fruit, vanilla hints and spices, firm in the mouth, dense, with volume and a long and harmonious aftertaste having earned 93 points in Wine Enthusiast.
The Douro Wine Region, like all lost paradises that still exist on earth, has always something good for us to discover and celebrate. Among those discoveries, the wines Colinas do Douro stand out for they are the most consecrated expression of the Douro Superior.
