Taylor,
Fonseca and Croft: the Nogueira winery in the Douro
Visiting the one of the leading Port companies in the beautiful
Douro region of Portugal, part 5
David Guimaerens, chief winemaker
Quinta
da Nogueira is the modern winery where many of the Ports are made.
The Taylor group first rented space here in 1995, and then bought it
from the banks in 1997. Since then they have spent a fortune fixing
it up. (Previously it was a table wine project with 12 hectares of
vines on a hill.)
Freshly harvested grapes
This
doesn’t look like a Port lodge at all: it’s modern and shiny
with lots of stainless steel, although there are a lot of large
barrels, too. This is where the Taylor group developed the ‘Port
toes’: a technology that aims to replicate the effect of foot
treading, something they still use for their top Ports.
David
Guimaerens is the chief winemaker for the group, and he’s overseen
quite a bit of change in the way Port is made. He trained in
Australia, returning to the Douro in 1990. In those days, the
farmers used to make their own port, and back in 1985 there were
some 40 traditional wineries supplying Port to the group. But in the
last crisis in the industry, in 1990, many of small wineries gave
up. Going back 50 years, Taylor’s owned Vargellas, but Terra Feita
was just a supplier. Fonseca didn’t own any vineyards until 1973.
The shift has been for the Port houses to purchase quintas of their
own.
Port toes in action
‘Today,
Vintage Port comes only from our own vineyards,’ explains
Guimaerens. ‘When you look at Vintage Port in the 1970s, the
volumes were huge compared with today. Today we buy fruit from
farmers. 30 years ago we bought from winemakers. It’s very
different.’
He
explains that the Taylor group have bought Quintas not to improve
quality (this was already very good), but to preserve the quantity
in the face of change. ‘A magical 1963 or 1970 is pretty
extraordinary. I’ll be a happy guy if anything we do today turns
out as good as these.’
In
his winemaking, Guimaerens doesn’t do single variety ferments.
‘Cofermentation is fundamental,’ he says. For example, Tinta
Barroca has lots of anthocyanins but low tannins, so its colour
isn’t stable if it is fermented on its own. ‘Everyone raves
about the old vineyards, which have a tremendous blend of different
varieties. The 1970s and 1980s saw a reduction to four or five
varieties planted in large blocks. The varieties chosen were those
giving colour, but those that don’t can still give extra layers of
flavour and complexity. For example, we need the contribution of
Tinto Căo for its acidity, and Rufete for its flavour. Nowadays we
are actively planting 10 different varieties.’
‘The
lagar is very simple,’ says Guimaerens. ‘Where the work has to
be done is in the vineyard.’
