When she returned home, her mother Carla Ferreira made an offer she couldn’t refuse – she could take some of the family’s vineyards and make wine instead of just selling the grapes. Rita did that and more. Her first wines hit the market in 2005 and her winery “Conceito” was launched.

Although the Douro Superior is generally the hottest and driest part of the region, Rita works with vineyards in the Teja valley which are far from the river and at a relatively high altitude. It’s a landscape of more gently rolling hills here, and allows Rita to produce the cool climate style that she prefers.

Rita’s Bastardo(Trousseau) has become one of her most iconic wines. it’s an elegant and nuanced expression of this quite fiery grape variety, famed in Douro for its ability to ripen with a high sugar content.

Whatever might be written on the label, Tiago’s style is quite recognisable. The wines have a feeling of energy and a lightness of touch which reflects the high altitude of Tiago’s vineyards (they stretch up to 700m above sea level). Whites and reds alike tend to have fascinating textures. Pét-nats have become a small obsession, and are very good, as is the Moscatel Gallego, with pin-sharp, minty aromatics. Moscatel is a specialty of the area around Favaios, where Sampaio has some of his vineyards.

Renegado is a firm favourite of ours – a red/white blend that is dangerously drinkable, fresh and light. It’s a kind of homage to the simple wine that Douro grape growers have always made for their own consumption – ‘consumo’ as it’s known locally.

Since 2019, Tiago rehoused his winery in Sanfins do Douro’s old coop winery building. He also now has a pair of antique talhas that were gifted to him by Vasco Croft.

As well as making wines under his own label, Luis also works as a consultant winemaker. His clients include, among others, Quinta da Costa do Pinhão and Suertes del Marqués in Tenerife.

After being somewhat itinerant, he is finally building his own winery near the village of São João da Pesqueira.

Morais renovated the old winery at the quinta, and together with consultant winemaker Luis Seabra started to make wine from 2014. The estate’s single white wine is fermented with its skins, just as both red or white ports would have been vinified. Morais has chosen not to highlight it on the label – something that would be bound to fall foul of the IVDP’s certifying board – but his branco is very definitely an orange wine. It has a flinty, concentrated and almost Burgundian quality.

The red wines sit in the same Douro new-wave category as Conceito or Folias de Baco. High alcohol or toasty oak is not on the menu. 

Quevedo also make a range of table wines, including the easy going Oscar’s red, white and rosé and a reserve red, “Claudia’s”. They now have organic wines released under these labels. There ports are made in every style with a focus on old Colheitas. Highlights include a 40 year old white port and colheitsas going back to the mid-1990s – when the winery first started bottling its own ports.

Brother and sister team Cláudia and Oscar are at the core of the business, with Cláudia focusing on port wine production and Oscar taking care of sales, marketing and management. Teresa Batista is the winemaker responsible for table wines.

Their 100 hectares of vineyards in Cima Corgo are gradually being converted to organic viticulture. Also during the past couple years they opened a tasting room in Vila Nova de Gaia where you can explore their range and learn more about the family.

Quevedo’s story is told in Foot Trodden.

Wines that have impressed us recently include  Xisto Amarelo (yellow schist) 2018 and Quinta da Carolina 2017.

These are Douro wine styles that don’t rely on overpowering oak or high alcohol.

This later includes “Lollipop Hop”, a fascinating and quite delicious co-ferment of white grapes with hops.

The estate is blessed with old vineyards and a wonderful location.

Part of this later range is an orange wine (“Undo”) which seems to be more successful with each passing vintage. The 2020 is really something.

The estate is in organic conversion but not yet certified.

Reflecting the drinking preferences of the Roseira family and their team, ports are made in a much drier than normal style at Quinta do Infantado, and can be quite delicious.

Some vineyard plots are now certified organic. These are used to make a Douro red wine and line of organic Port wines as well.