Some more pictures from the road. I’m now back from the quick Spain and Portugal trip, but I thought I’d share these. First of all, a couple of pictures from the brief stop in Ribeiro, the region inland from Rias Baixas that is a hot spot for the Treixadura grape variety.

Next, a shot of the Quinta de Covela estate in Vinho Verde. This is right at the border with the Douro, but the soils here are the granite of the Minho, not schist. The estate went bankrupt, was left abandoned for a couple of years, then was purchased by the current owners. It has been restored to its former glory, with the previous team hired back. Production is now shifting from 50:50 red/white to 80% white with 20% red grapes for rose, and the speciality here is the fabulous Avesso grape (white), along with Arinto, and also the Chardonnay that helped make this estate famous in the first place.

Lima Smith, current owners of Covela, also purchased Quinta da Boavista in the Cima Corgo of the Douro. It’s one of the regions great Quintas, and it will be interesting to see what they do with the wines. Nothing has been released yet. Boavista is beautiful, and has some extraordinary terraces.

Olive trees are planted in these moratorios, which are old terraces that weren’t replanted after phylloxera. Below is the old lagar house. These lagars are beautiful, but Boavista probably won’t be using them for table wine.

The Judas tree in bloom. It was a beautiful March day.