About this winery

While Quinta do Vale Meão only began bottling under its own label in 1999, the estate has an incredible history. Vale Meão was one of the shrewd acquisitions of the celebrated Douro landowner Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. In 1877 she purchased 270 hectares of land near Vila Nova de Foz Côa in the Upper Douro, and over the course of the next decade established a model winery, planting all the vineyards from scratch. The Quinta remained in the family and is owned today by Francisco Javier...

See the QUINTA DO VALE MEÃO detail page for more information on this brand

Product notes

After a very difficult and rainy end of the 2013 harvest, the autumn came warmer and dryer than usual. In the last 15 days of the year and in the beginning of 2014 the rain was constant, and the total amount of rainfall in these 3 months was similar to our year average - around 400 mm. During this period, the air temperature was always higher than normal and that caused an anticipation of the bud break of around 15 days regarding 2013. From bud break to harvest, the temperature was always a little bit lower than average. This mild situation, associated with regular rainy periods during the cycle, was the key to have very low hydric stress levels. Therefore the canopy development was excellent with very interesting yields. All these factors combined allowed a perfect maturation process, but around 15 days earlier than usual. Due to the balance of the maturation of all our varieties, we harvest at a good pace and when the rain appeared in mid-September we already had around 85% of the harvest concluded. The fact that we had a cooler year than usual, when our biggest concern is the excess of heat, allows us to expect an exceptional year.

Production notes

After being crushed, the grapes were cooled down and trodden by foot during four hours in granite "lagares", transferred to small old french oak wooden vat and fermented for 10 days with controlled temperature. The wine was matured for 15 months in used French Allier oak barriques (225 litres).

Tasting notes

Great lively colour. A very unique nose showing floral and citruses notes. In the mouth it keeps the floral profile and shows surprising softness. It has an extraordinary elegance, excellent acidity, with firm but elegant tannins.