Quinta Maria Izabel was launched in a gifted terroir, with over eighty hectares of various caste vines. Dirk Nieport and the excellency of this team turned this into one the most unique portfolios of the Douro.
On the high hillsides of the Douro, lays Quinta Maria Izabel, with over eighty hectares of vines and fourteen hectares of olive grove based on shale soles, reaching a height of six hundred meters.
Over there, there is a variety of 16 different castes, respecting the traditions of the region. Their names profile Quinta Maria Izabel as a catalogue of delights: the Tinta Francisca, Tinta Fêmea and Tinto Cão. The Tinta Amarela, Touriga Franca and Roriz, plus a wide range of old castes, similar to Touriga Nacional. Among the whites, picturesque titles, such as Codega do Larinho, Rabigado, Viosinho and Cerceal, Rabo de Ovelha and Goveia. The majority of them in old vines, as expected.
On those grounds of low yeld, the vines benefit from all the strengths of the terroir. The wine making assures nothing goes to waste from the freshness and the character extracted from the soil. Quinta Maria Izabel produces red wines with good tannins, strong fruity aromas and a soft drinking. The white ones are elegant, stuffed and fresh, with good evolution.
Dirk Nieport is in charge of the oenology. A name that symbolizes the excellence of the Douro wine culture. Although the project is recent, it did not take long until it got its well-deserved respect and recognition from the critics and the wine aficionados.
The portfolio invokes with an “understatement” the great qualities of this privileged gem of the Douro. Starting with Maria Isabel Reserva da Princesa, a red wine from 2014, with a deep ruby color, strong aroma, freshness and complexity with an incredible cut on the mouth: salty, polished, vibrant. The white wine of the same name, harvested in 2015, comes concise, elegant and expressive. The notes of citrus arise with great notoriety, among the lime, grapefruit, the flower, the white fruits and a sublime touch our pure minerality.
The red DOC presents a grenade-ruby color, hints of red fruits, balsamic notes, slight cedar aroma and a special character. Velvety on the mouth, long ending, it is a classic of the Douro. The DOC does not have less merit for its fresh and complex aroma, intense mineral character and fruity notes of orchard. A mineral wine with an acidity that the soft greasiness ennobles.
It would not be admissible that a place, a vine and one oenologist of such quality would not create here a Port Maria Izabel, which in fact exists and presents itself in ruby violet color with strong aromas of forest fruits in a fine and potent combination, specialized and fresh. A Port of notable freshness and elegance, rustic tannins, rich body and a wide structure.
In a place like this, just like with a human being, it is possible to look at its first steps, foreseeing all the greatness the future winds. For its steps, for the quality its leaders show and for the pride that the final result evokes, we can anticipate a bright future ahead to Quinta Maria Izabel, a pearl of the Douro that charms Portugal.
