The terroir

Because of the historical domination of the Douro valley by the Gaia based Port Houses since the 18th century, there has been a tendency to underplay the importance of the individual terroirs of the great Douro Quintas, as these Port Houses have preferred to talk about their brands rather than the vineyards where they source their wines. In our opinion, this is a shame, since the differing microclimates and soil compositions of the great Quintas has a determining effect on the quality and personality of the wines made there. The importance of terroir is in fact central in the Douro Valley.

Certainly the decision of the current team to take over the management of Quinta da Romaneira in 2004 was based on a belief – since vindicated by the outstanding quality of the wines we have been able to produce here – that Romaneira possesses one of the great vineyard terroirs of the Douro, capable of producing Vintage Ports that can rank in the very short list of the very best, but also of producing some of the finest examples of the new Douro Red wines that have begun to revolutionise the region.