2001 Lavradores De Feitoria Grand Echola Douro

Plump ripe blackberry black cherry fruit on the nose with notes of fresh earth, leather saddle dark chocolate, meaty gamey notes a bit of animal.  Smooth red and black berry fruit on the tongue another very drinkable style with smooth round tannins.  Finish 40+ MOST EXCELLENT

Portugal is one of the most exciting countries in Continental Europe today for fine wine.  they have been producing wine for over a thousand years and have unique and distinctive varietals that even the most astute enophiles have never heard of Tinto Roriz, Torriga Nacional, Tinta Franca, Tinta Cão, etc., etc.   The recent history of the Douro is dominated by the Port trade. There are still some 85 000 growers here (a staggering number).  While table wines have always been made in the region, until very recently almost all the best grapes were destined for Port production and these table wines have been made for local consumption, inexpensive and in an easy drinking style.  Lavradores is a collection of the Dueros top growers that have banded together to show the potential that this great wine producing region has to offer.

Lavradores de Feitoria is an interesting project that began in August 2000.  It is a joint project between 15 quality-minded Quintas or growers (Lavradores means grower).  A cooperative venture, but unlike the usual co-op in that the wines are made in an uncompromising manner to express the best quality wines that these vineyards have to offer.  There are two lines of wines are made under the Lavradores label.  First are the  single Quinta wines made from just one estate.  Not all Quintas produce their own wine, only four or five are chosen every year and bottled separately under the Lavradores  , chosen by a tasting panel (Dirk Niepoort and American importer Eric Solomon are involved here).  Second, blend wines are made by strict selection of grapes from different quintas, under the label Três Bagos.   All the Quintas can benefit from help in both viticulture and winemaking from the Lavradores De Feitoria moniker.  The technical team, and commercial sales department take care of the marketing of the wines, an indispensable resource that is not available to the individual growers.  This project is still in its early days, but Lavradores de Feitoria has certainly produced wines that have potential to impress.  Its greatest feat to date is not making impressive wines at affordable prices, but more importantly they have shown the world that Portugal has the potential to produce world class wines at every level of the price and quality. The current production is 20,000 cases and the wines are made by one of the up and coming young talents in Portugal, João Brito e Cunha. 

Background on Douro

The Douro valley in northern Portugal is wine geek heaven.  Those who visit the Douro are stunned by the beauty and the potential of this region, that has been seen as a 3^rd world wine producer for its entire existence.  Although you can read books about the area and study its wines you will never understand its wines until you visit the vineyards and break bread with the people that make the wines and tend the vines.

Old-style walled terracing on one of the steep slopes.  The scenery is spectacular.  As far as the eye can see, the mountainous terrain is covered with countour-line-like terraces.  The scale is impressive, too.  There’s just so much of everything.  You would not be exaggerating too say that the Douro is one of the wonders of the wine world.   Then there’s the soil, the ‘terroir’.  It is just about perfect for growing quality wine grapes.  There is schist, with a bit of granite here and there, the kind of conditions that don’t look promising for growing anything, but vines flourish in these conditions.  The poor soil encourages them to sink their roots deep, where they find a steady but stingy water supply and divert their energies to grape production.

The climate is continental, very hot and desert-dry in the summer; cold and wet in the winter.  One of the fascinating aspects of the region, though, are the small-scale variations between the different vineyard sites.  With each twist and turn of the various valleys, and from the top of the slope to the bottom, conditions can be remarkably different.  For example, down by the river the grapes will ripen a lot faster than those at the higher vineyards, which may be 400–500 metres higher up.

The region is split into three quite different areas. Coming from Porto, first you hit the Baixo Corgo, the coolest and wettest of the three. With just over 14 000 ha, this makes up one third of the region.  Next is the most important zone, the Cima Corgo.  Roughly centred around the town of Pinhão, its 19 000 ha make up 45% of the Douro.  Finally, we have the Douro Superior, much further up towards the Spanish border, and occupying 8700 ha (20% of the region). This is the hottest, driest region of the three.