February 2025 - Northern Portugal
February 2025
Northern Portugal
Featuring:
Maçanita Vinhos
Quinta das Arcas
This month we feature two producers located in wildly different, yet neighboring, wine regions in Northern Portugal - Vinho Verde and the Douro Valley. These two represent most of what American consumers know about Portuguese wines, so it will be fun to dive in and learn more about each region. Like our last Portuguese and Spanish wine clubs, this is inspired by a trip in March 2024 to the Iberian peninsula. While we did not visit Vinho Verde, we made a trip up the Douro Valley by boat to visit Maçanita’s remote family winery. Some personal anecdotes will be peppered throughout the writeup (in italics) to share the experience of that visit.
While many of us think of Portugal as relatively warm and arid with olive trees, cork oaks, and grape vines, it's vital to remember that nearly half the country shares a coastline with the Northern Atlantic Ocean. The cool, damp maritime influence of the Atlantic Ocean pushes right up against the steep Serra da Estrela mountains, creating a drastic rain-shadow effect in Northern Portugal. The Vinho Verde region is the result of this climate pattern.
While we didn’t stop at any wineries in Northern Portugal, we spent the day prior in Rias Baixas, Spain - just across the border. Here, the Atlantic influence is unmistakable. While it was January, the flora was spot-on with Oregon. Lush vegetation covered the hillsides, grey clouds filled the sky, and rivers ran violently full of winter rainwater. The earth had a familiar dampness to it, allowing Pines, Camellias, Ferns, and various vines to grow vigorously across the landscape.
When we crossed the border into Portugal, the weather continued with its moodiness. As we turned inland, the mountainous landscape became more drastic, the rivers wider, and the bridges higher. Vineyards filled the valleys below. The sky still seemed angry. =
Vinho Verde is easily Portugal’s most known wine region, at least for Americans of this generation. Their crisp, often lightly sparkling, white wines have won consumers over across the world. The wines are often unfussy, dry, easy to drink, low in alcohol, and great with food.
While it is believed that the region has been growing grapes since the Ancient Roman era, it wasn’t until the English (of course) started importing the wines in the late 18th century, that the region cemented itself as a winegrowing area. The next advancements came roughly 150 years later, with demarcation into law in 1908, production regulations set in 1926, and official Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) status in 1984. During this ‘coming of age’ era, Vinho Verde was actually not even ‘green’ (aka white) wines - a majority of what was produced was actually red wine. It wasn’t until the 1980s/90s that white wine overtook reds. Today, white wine makes up over ¾ of production in Vinho Verde.
Vinho Verde white wines are often a blend of varying amounts of six different grapes - Alvarinho, Arinto, Azal, Avesso, Loureiro, and Trajadura. The best iterations will be either single vineyards or single varieties, if not both. While the poorest quality wines can be empty, vapid wines with force carbonation to give them a sparkle, the best producers are anything but. Here, like anywhere, real wine is made by artisanal producers. The best iterations of Vinho Verde are mineral-laden, complex, and full of character. One can often find wines made of old vines, native grapes, and hands-off winemaking for a fraction of the price as other world-class regions.
As the bus continued to wind through the mountains, the sky cleared from grey to blue and the landscape turned from green to brown. We knew we had left Vinho Verde and were entering the Douro Valley.
In all the places I’ve traveled, I’ve never experienced anywhere as endlessly drastic as the Douro Valley. As you wind higher into the Serra da Estrella mountains, each curve around a hillside opens up to another dozen or so peaks and valleys. Each meter of land seems to be covered in vine, a vast majority of them built atop terraces that have been carved out over the centuries. The hillsides are impossibly steep, mechanization is impossible. Almost every one of these grapes is tended by hand, as tractors could not navigate the steep hillsides.
As we wind along the Douro River at the bottom of the valley, we pull up to a small dock. A 100 year boat - allegedly the oldest on the Douro - waits for us. We hop on, enjoy a glass of welcome rosado, and sail upriver.
Long before modern highways and bridges connected these vineyards to the rest of the world, this river was the key thoroughfare for commerce in the region. Smallholding farmers would tend the vineyards, harvest the grapes, and ferment the wine - usually to Port. They would then transport finished product down the river to larger negociant style houses in Porto, who would store and age the wine until it was ready to be shipped out across the world - perhaps to England, Brazil, or the United States.
While the Douro may be best known for its Port trade, there is a 2000 year history in this valley. Like in Vinho Verde, the Romans were the first to bring viticulture here - terracing the vineyards and making wines for local consumption. Nearly all of the wine produced here from 0 AD - 1700’s was dry wine from native grapes. In the late 17th century, the British started to gain a foothold in the local market and the style of wine was changed to favor English palates - sweet, bold, and strong. Moreover, the sea journey from Porto to England was long and often warm. (Especially when compared to something crossing the English Channel). By fortifying the wine with Brandy, it became less likely to spoil on the journey. Thus, Port spread around the world and soon became synonymous with Portuguese wine.
During this time, though, the Douro continued to make dry wines - both white and red. In fact, the ratio of dry/fortified wines produced has long held right around 50/50. The difference though is that the dry wines of the Douro never really took off in the export market. The behemoth Port trade simply eclipsed them and pushed consumers in search of dry reds and whites to other regions of Portugal. In the last two decades, however, dry wines have taken off and are a common sight in quality shops and restaurants worldwide.
As we sailed upriver, our hosts pointed out a small structure on the side of the hill. This was the Maçanita family winery. We disembarked at a small dock next to a deserted train station and started walking up the gravel road to the winery above.
The Maçanita family is one of the most known and respected names in modern Portuguese winemaking. And perhaps one of the most interesting, as there is zero winemaking history in the family. Joana and António Maçanita - brother and sister - were born in Lisbon to academic parents from Alentejo and the Azores. The two were both athletes when younger (representing the Portuguese National Team) and came to winemaking later in life. To simplify a long story, António founded a winery and eventually dragged Joana on board. Together they became enthralled in viticulture and winemaking, ever expanding their purview. They both have endless energy, tireless worth ethic, and plenty of charisma.
Today, the two - along with their incredibly talented and passionate teams - make over 100 wines across five regions of Portugal. António lives at and manages the original property, Fitapreta Vinhos in Alentejo, as well as manages the Azores Wine Co in the Azores and Companhia de Vinhos dos Profetas e Villões in Madeira. Joana’s home vineyard is Maçanita Vinhos in the Douro, and she also consults on Morgado do Quintão - a boutique farm stay and winery in the Algarve. Between these five properties and visiting markets around the world to help sell their wine, it’s quite clear that this family racks up some serious frequent flyer miles.
Arca Nova, Branco, Vinho Verde DOC 2023
In the mid 1970’s, Esteves Monteiro started to rehabilitate the neglected vineyards his family owned in the Vinho Verde region. A decade later, around 1985, Quinta des Arcas was founded as a winery. Over the last 40 years, they maintained consistent growth - always focusing on maintaining high quality viticulture on the increasing number of vineyard acreage they obtained. Today, the family owned winery produces a staggering amount of wines - 2.5million liters, or just under 300,000 cases of wine across both Vinho Verde and Alentejo in the south. The family manages brands, one of which is Arca Nova - their Vinho Verde focus.
This wine is classic Vinho Verde - clean nose, green apple, a touch of grassiness, crisp minerality on the palate. The blend is 50% Loureiro, 30% Arinto, 10% Trajadura, and 10% Avesso. The wine is 100% stainless steel fermented and aged, meant to be crisp and refreshing. While it’s far from summertime in the Pacific Northwest - this is the perfect wine to crack open on any temperature day and sip with some salty and fatty aperitif style foods.
Maçanita, MAC Tinto, Douro DOC 2022
While both Joana and Antonio contribute to Maçanita Vinhos, this project is the main focus on Joana. She is a rigorously scientific person and, even as a newcomer, is incredibly focused on preserving the history and legacy of the Douro region. In an effort to showcase a wide range of soil types and climates, the winery manages vineyards on both sides of the river, resulting in a lot of driving (there are not many bridges and the vineyards are remote). The only vineyard they own is a small vineyard that can only be accessed by horse or foot. It was purchased from an 88-year old woman whose grandfather planted the original vines. These 150 year old vines grow 30+ different varieties of native grapes. Think about it - since roughly the end of the American Civil War this vineyard has been producing grapes year after year, without any irrigation, fertilizer, or tractors ever helping.
Maçanita Vinhos makes a range of wines, but most have an incredibly small production size - some are only a barrel or two. These wines are too rare and expensive to find outside of Michelin starred restaurants in places like NYC and Lisbon. That said, it was an important mandate by Joana to produce a wine that everybody could drink - so MAC Tinto was created. Named after the family’s nickname, MAC is a classic Douro red table wine. It is a blend of 50% Touriga Nacional, 25% Sousão, and 25% Tinta Roriz. Grapes are sourced from between 500-1800 ft of elevation from Covas do Douro, within the Cima Corgo subregion of the Douro Valley. The wine undergoes spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel. After 15 days of maceration, it is racked off and aged for 18 months in stainless steel.
Like many Douro reds, the wine is bold and intense on the nose, with blackberries, cherries, and a bright floral component. The long hang time on the vines, plus cooler nights during harvest time, gives the wine a vibrant acidity that nicely contrasts the full body and firm tannins.
This wine could age a few years in the cellar and improve, but it is not entirely necessary. It is ready to drink now with some rich winter stew or a lighter spring roast in the months ahead.
GALLERY
See below photos from our trip to Maçanita Vinhos in the Douro Valley (March 2024)
