The rain dribbles across the windshield as we slow to a crawl on the pebbled drive. The drizzle has not let up for any of the five days we’ve been back in Portugal now, a constant reminder that spring does not venture inland from the coast early in this beautiful land. April often is the cruelest month.
But the sun shines in our minds as we pass the dog runs and vines of Quinta de Santa Comba. The low and sprawling villa ahead of us comes into focus through the wet and instantly feels like just the right thing.
We chose this place on the advice of our friend Paulo Ramos, proprietor of Quinta de Paços, which lies just a few kilometers away, folded into these same hollows and valleys outside of Barcelos. Sta Comba, as it turns out, is managed by good friends of Paulo’s, and we tuck into it like the cozy blanket we need to drive out the cold as the evening falls. We snatch a sunset out of the low clouds, just a knife blade of orange before those hills fade into darkness.
We wake well after sunrise, enshrined in the thick stone walls of the quinta, and navigate our way through the passages, avoiding the rainy courtyard to find the breakfast room. Ah, but we’re still too early to find more than coffee, and that’s fine. We take those cups back to our room to enjoy. We won’t meet up with Paulo until after lunch, so we’re at our leisure.
Last time we came for a visit, we camped the night before, with the Portugal dog pack—two vizslas and a black lab mix—taking up half the tent, on the banks of a small river in a village closer to the coast. So we’re significantly better rested this time around.
Visiting Generations of Winemakers
Just like last time, though, we follow the navigation around to the vineyard side of the quinta, where we’d parked before to let the pups out for a bit before our visit. I can’t help but bear right at the fork in the road and do the same thing again. It feels more familiar than going around to the front door. Or maybe I’m just still an American getting turned around on Portuguese roads.
Paulo greets us and takes us into the rows of vines that lay behind the whitewashed buildings. While the quinta has other vineyards up further north in Minho—Capitão Mor, near Monção and Melgaço—there are various projects he keeps going in the estate vineyards on the main property, shaded at their nexus by an incredibly old walnut tree. He shows us the Loureiro vines, one of the primary varieties of the DOC Vinho Verde, and their health is apparent. It’s Semana Santa, Holy Week, the third week of April, so spring is in full and budbreak has passed. Tight little verdant berries twig themselves along the stems, forming bunches of promise, enjoying the rain that at this point supports their growth. The sun will come soon enough. We hope.
He also shows us rows of an experimental varietal, Padeiro de Basto, which we jokingly call “Bastard Baker” even though that isn’t quite right. “Basto” refers to the subregion of Vinho Verde, Monção, and in other places in Portugal it is Tinto Cão, or Tinto Matias. The red grape should offer up a ruby red juice when vinified, and we look forward to seeing those efforts down the road. The vines are roughly 4 years along and should produce well soon.
After our garden walk, Paulo takes us through the courtyard of the quinta that has stood in various forms for several hundred years. It has been in the Ramos family for enough generations to mean something in this country of longevous history and even longer memories. But winemaking for the outside world has “only” taken place (that Paulo can verify anyway) since the late 1800s, when one of the wines secured a gold medal at an International competition in Porto.
In the spacious salon, with a long table laid for our tasting, Paulo is joined by his wife Susana in welcoming us to their home. Having followed their wine program for several years now, we’re familiar with the range of wines, though they always have something new they’re trying out. But in the wine business, even “new” takes time to craft in the vines and the cellars.
The Tasting Proceeds
Heartened by our walk and the reintroduction to the story and the family chapel, we sit down for a few new tastes as well as a revisit to the latest versions of our favorites. While many folks are familiar with the box standard Vinho Verde blend—Alvarinho, Loureiro, and sometimes other white castas—and its slightly frizzante formula, that is not what Quinta de Paços produces. Instead, Paulo has focused his attention on more elegant expressions of those grapes, many vinified as single varietals, and blended across the estate or in single vineyard labels.
We begin with the Casa de Paços Arinto Reserva 2022, an elegant white with bright acidity, having spent 6 months in barrel and then into stainless tanks on the lees. The reserva then spent 9 months in bottle before the release. I found Charenterais melon aromas, with lemon tart on the palate.
Next came the 2020 Monção Sobre Lias, an Alvarinho in the old style, with more malolactic fermentation and moderate acidity. Sunshine hay, and pine menthol aromas met passion fruit and nespera on the palate, for me.
To our delight, the third august member of this trio was Paulo’s Prazo da Cotovia Moscatel Galego Branco Vinho, using grapes allowed to raisin a bit on the vine. More alcohol translated into a less sweet profile, with medium weight and a balanced unctuousness. Golden currants, and honey on the nose mixed with caramel flan, and marmelada on the palate. Delicious. We wanted to take home a case but his stocks were running low enough we felt truly privileged to try it.
Back at the quinta, over the next couple of days, we opened two more of the splendid bottles Paulo and Susana had pressed upon us to take with us.
First came the Loureiro Reserva 2021 Vinho Verde DOC, Subregion do Cávado at 12% abv. With a color evoking the center of a daisy, and light weight, medium body, and a finest bit of spritz, this Loureiro was true to its varietal and showed bay leaf, and lemon flower on the nose, and an elegant sparkling lemon soda tone on the palate.
Second was the Casa de Paços 2022, a Loureiro and Arinto blend, with punchy lemon aromas and crisp bright lemons, and their leaves on the palate. I would love to age a bottle of this and see how it develops in a year or two, as I love aged Arintos. This we enjoyed at a nearby restaurant just outside of Barcelos, Restaurante Dom Carlos, more friends of Paulo and Susana.
When our travels take us back to the north of Portugal, we may just end up staying forever, the area above Barcelos charmed us so much. We felt right at home… but surely that was in no small part because of the friends we have made at Quinta de Paços.