Wine harvest at Quinta dos Vales

There’s an almost torrid heat over the vineyard, but the 900-odd kilos of “gouveio” grapes which will be used to start the day’s production are cool – and this isn’t by chance. “As the temperature in the field is very high, the grapes can fall apart quite rapidly when they’re hot. That’s why normally they pass the night in the cold in order to be processed the following morning”. The explanation is given by Marta Rosa. A graduate of the University of Évora, the 29-year-old is «Quinta dos Vales» resident enologist.

With sleeves rolled up, she separates the best bunches that slide past on an automated selection table. It’s here that the real work starts. “Yes, the most important phase is the choice of grapes. If we choose the grapes in the healthiest state possible, we’ll go on to obtain a wine of superior quality”, explains the young wine expert.

While the method is definitely not traditional, it isn’t rigorous enough to be industrialised either. The bunches of grapes are fed into a machine that separates the green stalks from the grapes, which are then crushed by a pneumatic press to extract the juice.

A dark opaque green, the liquid that provides the basis of the new wine has a surprising taste – sweet as honey. It’s the fermentation of the fruit sugar that will convert this juice into wine.

Put thus simply, it all sounds very easy – but even before they’re picked by hand and placed in 15-kilogram boxes, the grapes are monitored with scientific precision.

“Every day we check on the state of the grapes in the vineyard – to make sure that they don’t pass maturity”, Marta Rosa tells. In other words, samples are taken from the various vines on the property to see “if the grape is in the state we want, in terms of sugar concentration and acidity”.

“The sugar concentration gives the basis for the gradual transition to alcohol – and the acidity has to be balanced”, she explains.

Indeed, acidity is the essential component in a wine. When acidity is low, wines become lack-lustre; when it’s too high, it leaves a harsh after-taste in the mouth. But when it’s perfectly balanced, the results are fresh, lively wines. Acidity is one of the four elementary flavours of the palate, and it’s this that gives the wine its taste and identity.

Answering questions on this year’s grape harvest, Marta Rosa is full of optimism. “It’s all looking really good! The grapes are in great shape, and we getting everything done on time”, she says.

The last variety of grape to be harvested this year will probably be the “castelão”, used for the rosé or white wine, or to mix with the other white wines. “The “aragonês” grapes were the first to be picked this year. They are at the base of our red wines. Then it’ll be the “castelões” and the white grapes – “arinto”, “síria”, “malvasia” and “viognier” varieties”, adds Aníbal Neto, 31 – the agricultural engineer in charge of production and wine growing.

After the grapes have been picked, there’s a huge amount of work that has to be done in the winery “which has to be constantly monitored”. Throughout the year, Marta Rosa is kept busy in the laboratory. Analyses are performed daily. “It’s through these analyses that we know when the wine has started to ferment, and when it has stopped”, she tells.

The white, “spumante” (sparkling) and rosé wines are made in the cold – in a cold chamber, kept constantly refrigerated. In this chamber the base for the sparkling wine for 2010 is all ready – made with “castelão” grapes. But it’s still not known when it will be “completely ready”. The sparkling wine for 2008, for example, is “almost ready”. “It’s a long, drawn-out process”, explains Aníbal Neto.

2010’s white wine will only be bottled next February. In terms of production, Aníbal Neto expects to produce “4.000 litres of the white “Grace”, about 10.000 litres of first selection white, 5.000 litres of rosé and 2.500 litres of “spumante”.”

“There’ll be more reds – and we have a policy to produce a very strong quality red. Our “castelão” grape produces 10 tons per hectare, but, from the start, as the grapes begin to colour, we discard up to 70 per cent of the bunches. It’s a very rigorous, time-consuming and ultimately expensive way to operate. With the “Cabernet Sauvignon” for instance, we eliminate around 50 per cent of the grapes”.

Four metres underground, 80 to 180 oak casks (with a capacity for 225 litres each) of «Quinta dos Vales» red wines from 2009 are stored at a constant temperature. Roughly 18.000 litres of red wine will be stored there to mature until the end of October.

“Estágio” (maturing) is the name given to the period in which the wine is stored in the casks. It involves a lot of attention. If the wine isn’t tested and monitored, it can evaporate, losing as much as a quarter of the content and turning, in the process.

At «Quinta dos Vales» each cask is used for three years. After this, they need to be renovated in order to have another two years, maximum, of use. The cheapest cask costs €600, but the most expensive costs €960. “In this case, the wood functions as a kind of school for the wine. We try to direct the wine to different woods – according to its characteristics. The cask, for instance, can’t give taste or aroma to the wine, but it can allow the wine to release its true potential”.

Right now, «Quinta dos Vales» wines are sold via a number of supermarket chains and can be found “in around five per cent of the Algarve’s restaurants”. Exportation is on the increase, and has already stretched to Canada, Holland, Germany, Switzerland and France.

For the future, “aguardentes” (brandies) are another plan... “We have lots of fruit trees on the property – plums, peaches, figs, carobs and almond. They’re all products that can be distilled and, obviously, we’re interested in setting up a small distillery here”, Neto reveals.

Aside from the various art exhibitions that have now become an image of this brand, its rural tourism and “artes barricas” wine shop recently opened in Porches, «Quinta dos Vales» is now part of a commission pushing for a “rota dos vinhos” (wine route) for the Algarve.