Vale Meão used to be one of the sources for Barca Velha. The estate used to have 30 owners – many of whom took little interest in it and rarely visited. In the 1960s Vito started buying parcels from his fellow family members until he finally acquired all the parcels some 30 years later in the mid-1990s. In 1998 he quit as director of Ferreira, part of the Sogrape Group, in 1998. "Not a very wise thing to do as I was just two years off collecting my pension," he remarked. "But I don't regret it at all. It was my son, Xito, an oenologist who urged me to do it."
I think the Olazabals are right to keep their range simple. I enjoyed all their red wines – both at the Douro boys tasting in Lisbon and during our visit to the property. The concentrated, black fruited and supple 2004 Vale Meão and the very fine 2000 Vale Meão with its beautiful balance of ripe fruit and freshness in the finish. The 2000 was the product of a difficult flowering, so a very small crop. The result is one of the finest Douro reds we tasted on the trip.
We tasted the wines over a very enjoyable lunch starting with a delicious spinach soup – a reminder how central soup is to good Portuguese home cooking. Then we had leave to get the train down the Douro from Pocinho to Ferrao. Unfortunately we had only a few minutes of light, so missed much of the spectacular scenery on the way to Ferrao.
(Visit to Quinta do Crasto will be covered in a separate post.)
Always connected: Andrew Barrow, glasses and spittoon
Douglas Blyde (intoxicating prose)@Crasto
Detail from above photo
3 comments:
I like the house of mirrors pic!
Thanks Douglas – one of those shots that either work or they don't! I'm happy with this one.
We've jus tput up the video which goes nicely with this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yo_eus3OfM
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