Quinta da Telhada

Given the vineyard’s modern layout, the wines from Telhada are normally made by individual variety and thus are able to better reflect the unique characteristics of each.

The Touriga Nacional gives excellent tannins at this vineyard with pronounced blackcurrant aromas and black chocolate flavours. The climatic and soil conditions allow the Touriga Franca fruit to develop its full maturity and potential, with splendid dark wines showing strong berry and floral aromas. The wines from Telhada have a concentrated flavour, with deep colour and intense tannic backbone that combine well with the gum-cistus and eucalyptus aromas. This vineyard is a tribute to the ability of vitis vinifera to flourish in harsh conditions and where, with care and skill, some very fine wines can be made.

This year the Symington family planted very substantial new vineyard plots at several of their estates in the Alto Douro. This was combined with an on-going series of re-plantings of very old vineyards on the various properties. The total area planted in 2008 amounted to over 31 hectares of new vineyard, including plantings undertaken at Warre’s Quinta da Telhada. The total amount of vineyard planted this year is the equivalent of a major new Quinta in the Douro and shows the family’s on-going commitment to the finest Ports and wines of the Douro.

More than 30% of the new plantings were made up of the low-yielding but very high quality Touriga Nacional variety. All the plantings benefited from the experience gained from the 3.1 hectares of experimental vineyard at Warre’s Quinta da Cavadinha that was first planted in 1997 in the specific areas of root stock selection, soil analysis and the use of different varieties on different soils. This on-going experiment has already yielded important information that has directly helped to improve varietal selection and ultimately the quality of the grapes.