Quinta do Vale Meão: 杜羅河上游的瑰寶 A treasure of Douro Superior

July 18, 2011 admin No Comments

Quinta do Vale Meão酒莊是Douro Boys的一分子，Douro Boys由五家著名酒莊組成，共同推廣Douro區的葡萄酒。Quinta do Vale Meão位於杜羅河上游 (Douro Superior)，是Douro產區最內陸的地區。正是這種特殊的位置，特顯他的與眾不同。杜羅河上游的內陸位置在地域上更接近西班牙邊境，葡萄樹生長在溫差大及雨量少的環境，迫使葡萄樹更努力地生長葡萄。大部分的葡萄樹都種植在崎嶇的山丘上，土壤包括片岩，花崗岩和沖積礫石。不同的葡萄品種都種植在這個地區，包括：Touriga Nacional,、Tinta Roriz、 Touriga Franca、 Tinta Amarela、 Tinta Barroca 和 Tinto Cão。每一葡萄品種貢獻它的特性，使葡萄酒最終能成為一個完整的產品。

Quinta do Vale Meão is part of the Douro boys, one of five leading wineries in the Douro Valley. They promote the wines of the Douro region. This Quinta is located at Upper Douro Valley (Douro Superior), the furthest inland area of the Douro growing region. It is this special location which sets their wines apart from the others in the Douro. As Douro Superior is more inland and is actually very close to the border to Spain, vines are stressed more with less rainfall and a larger temperature difference, forcing the vines to work harder to produce grapes. Most of the vines are planted on rugged hills and the soil is a combination of schist, granite and alluvial gravel. Different varieties are planted throughout the region including: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão. Each grape contributes to the final wine and makes it a complete product.

酒廠雖然擁有現代化的設備，但Quinta do Vale Meão仍沿用傳統的舊花崗岩葡萄池 (Lagares) 來生產葡萄酒。在收採期間，工人每天晚上都在葡萄池 (Lagares) 踩葡萄來提高葡萄酒的顏色、味道和單寧。用人手來踩葡萄一點都不便宜，但很高興地看到這種傳統依然繼續著。

At the winery, you will find modern winery equipments but Quinta do Vale Meão still uses traditional old granite lagares for their wine production. Workers come in every night at harvest time to tread the grapes in the lagares to extract the colour, flavour and tannin from the grapes. This is an expensive process but it is good to see such traditions being continued.

Quinta do Vale Meão只釀造三款葡萄酒，它們都是高品質的產品，能進一步陳年並轉變得更複雜。Meandro解作蜿蜒並代表酒莊位於在杜羅河的彎位，這酒是Vale Meão的副酒，但製作卻非常認真。充滿成熟的黑果味，結構堅固，最好是搭配肉類或傳統菜餚如葡萄牙鴨飯。Quinta do Vale Meão的正酒優雅獨特，酒香撲鼻。他擁有深度的成熟果味及堅穩的單寧，最少需要陳年十年以上才能嚐到其真正的潛能。Vale Meão的Vintage Port (年份砵酒) 與傳統酒莊的表達有所不同，它提供了更純樸的果味、但依然擁有Vintage Port (年份砵酒) 的甜度和單寧。

Quinta do Vale Meão only makes 3 wines and they are all of high quality, capable of aging further to develop more complexity. The Meandro stands for meander in English and it represents the meander (turn) of the river Douro where the winery is situated at, this wine is the second label of the Quinta but it is as serious as it gets, offering ripe dark fruits and a solid structure, it is best paired with meats or traditional dishes like cassero of duck rice. The first label of Quinta do Vale Meão is an elegant wine offering a perfume nose with serious depth of ripe fruits and firm tannins which needs decades to unlock. The Vintage Port on the other hand is different to traditional port houses in the sense that it offers more pure fruit along with the sweetness and tannin of a Vintage Port.

我們非常享受這次的到訪，並非常感謝Luisa Olazabal熱情的款待。相信具有遠見的Francisco Olazabal (Luisa的哥哥) 定能把世界的目光帶到 Douro酒區。

We thoroughly enjoy our visit and would like to thanks Luisa Olazabal for welcoming us to their home. With the vision of her brother Francisco Olazabal, the world would surely take note of the worthy wines from the Douro region.