Quinta de Ventozelo Newsletter

Dear friend,
After a lot of work, we are extremely pleased to announce the release of 3 new wines: our first ever Rosé, a crisp White Wine, and a Reserva Tawny Port. These are our winemaker's comments on the new releases:

Douro DOC Vinzelo Rosé
"I am very proud of our first Rosé. With its vigourous dark pink colour, aromas of red berries and spice, it balances perfectly youth and elegance."

Douro DOC Cister da Ribeira White Wine
"White Douro wines are emerging as a very interesting and unique alternative to standard palates. Our Cister da Ribeira 2005, made from the local varieties Códega, Gouveio, Viosinho and Rabigato, with its rich and dry flavours, captures the very essence of the Douro."

Reserva Tawny Port
"Our customers were demanding a good value ready-to-drink Port Wine, without compromising the quality. We came up with this wine, that spends and average of 7 years in wood, the result being a smooth and very complex wine."

Click here to read the complete 2005 tasting reviews and awards.
Click here if you want to read our previous newsletter.

OUR AGRICULTURAL ENGINEER TALKS...

"The weather conditions of the 2005/2006 agricultural year have been more favourable than the previous year. Satisfactory rainfall levels since the beginning of Autumn until now have allowed for the normal groundwater absorption and plant growth.
Temperatures at the beginning of Spring have been normal for these periods, favouring the correct development of the new plants. On the sanitary side, in spite of the rainfall levels, there haven't been any diseases affecting the plants. As for the perspectives on productivity, there are two situations to consider. The first concerns the vines under formation, which are about to enter into full production, where we forecast a significant increase in the yield, resulting from the general healthy state of the plants and the increase in the number of buds retained after pruning, compared to last year.
The second situation concerns the vines under production, where, in spite of the general good state of the plants, springing is lower than last year, so we can say that we do not expect a significant increase in the production, maybe even a decrease. On the other hand the smaller number and size of bunches per vine make us expect an increase in the quality of the wines.

Tiago Maia, Agricultural Engineer at Quinta de Ventozelo.

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