This small winery was built in 1890, nearby the chapel dedicated to the ‘Lady of the River’ — Senhora da Ribeira — for which the quinta is named. In 2001 the winery was remodeled with three modern lagares, which worked in tandem with the four traditional granite lagares for several years. The new lagares proved so successful, contributing to such outstanding Vintage Ports as the 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2016 that from the 2007 harvest they entirely replaced the stone lagares. For a full description of the modern lagar, see the Malvedos Winery.
Since 2016 this winery has also been equipped with an advanced Delta-Oscillys destemmer. This equipment represents a significant advance in that the destemming is selective and very effective, leaving unwanted raisined berries attached to the stalks and releasing only the healthy berries. This is achieved through a pendulum swing whose intensity can be adjusted. The released berries are then gently crushed through rollers, which can be adjusted in accordance with berry size and weight. The winery is also equipped with three vinification vats for the final stages of the fermentations, following treading and macerations in the lagares.
Although located in a very isolated part of the Douro Superior, the remotest of the Douro’s three subregions, the winery is strategically placed for receiving and vinifying the grapes not just from Senhora da Ribeira but also from the neighbouring private family-owned vineyards of Quinta do Cabeço, Quinta da Cerdeira and Quinta do Santinho, all of which are less than a ten-minute drive away. This reflects another of the major benefits of investing in several small specialist wineries along the Douro Valley: the substantial reduction in carbon emissions which would otherwise be incurred if large volumes of grapes had to be transported to distant large-scale centralised wineries.
