Quinta do Ataide Tinto, Douro DOC

Description

Quinta do Ataide Tinto is a red wine produced in the Douro Superior wine growing region of the Douro Valley, Portugal.

Quinta do Ataide is owned by the world-famous Symington family (owners of Graham, Dow and Warre Port amongst others) under their Symington Family Estates company. They are the largest vineyard owner in the Douro Valley with over 1000 hectares split between 26 vineyards. They are also the largest organic wine producers in Portugal via their three Quintas in the Vilarica Valley, Quinta de Assares, Quinta da Canada and Quinta do Ataide. Quinta do Ataide is also home to the  Symington Grape Variety Library, established in 2014, which comprises a vineyard with 53 distinct grape varieties, to further the knowledge of the various Douro grape varieties.

The historic Quinta do Ataide estate is based around anold 18th century manor house and occupies an unusually flat (for the Douro) are of land in the Vilarica Valley. This is an old lake bed surrounded by granite escarpments. The soils here are different from elsewhere int he Douro. They are composed of the traditional Douro granite and schist but have a  an alluvial topsoil component producing a unique terroir. The cold winters and hot summers, combined with low rainfall contributes to the making of an exceptional wine that has wonderful aromas and concentrated colour and flavours.

The grapes for Quinta do Ataide Tinto are a typical Douro blend of grape varieties which are organically farmed at Quinta do Ataíde in the Vilariça Valley (Douro Superior). The blend for the 2017 is 49% Touriga Franca, 48% Touriga Nacional and 3% Alicante Bouschet. Grapes are harvested by hand in 20kg boxes to ensure that they arrive at the Adega de Reservas winery at Quinta do Sol in best condition. The grapes are hand sorted and gently destemmed and transported to the fermentation tank without pumping. Each fermentation tank is monitored carefully and temperatures and maceration procedures; plunging, pumping over and delestage, are adjusted in accordance with each fermenting tank in order to maximize the grapes
potential. The wine is aged for 8 months in 400 Litre French oak barrels.

Winemakers are Charles Symington and Pedro Correia assisted by the Symington DOC Douro winemaking team.