OSCAR QUEVEDO

[Bradley Bogdan]

Hi Oscar,

First off, thank you for being here!

My question centers on closures. For someone who makes one of the most long lived forms of wine on earth, a good closure is obviously essential to the soundness of your wine 20, 30 or 40+ years down the road. How do you ensure that you have corks that are most likely to stand the test of time, and have you ever considered other closures, especially for wines designed to be drunk young. I can't say I've ever seen a Portuguese wine with an alternate closure, so I'm also curious about the opinion on them amongst the trade in your country in general.

[oscarquevedo]

Hi Oscar,
Thanks for spending the time to answer our questions. I am interested in your thoughts about the 2010, 2011, and 2012 vintages for your Port and Douro wines.

Also, do you know which vintage your next release of Colheita will be?

Hi David, your question made me think a little bit and recall the weather reports for each of these years as I strongly believe there is a huge influence of the climate in the quality of the grapes and eventually the wine we make, in such a dry and hot region as the Douro valley is.
2010 was the third warmer year since 1850 in the world; in Portugal it was slightly warmer than the long term average and it was the rainiest of the last decade; the rain was critical in 2010 as we have had three years with lower rainfall levels; this rain helped to create the basis for an excellent harvest in 2011.
2011 was the sixth warmer year of the last 80 years, with a rainfall level close to the average. It rained abundantly after the flowering, in May and June, which originated some mildew and powder mildew in the vineyards. Something that also happened in 2007. Some of the bunches dried out, which had as consequence the reduction of the production and the concentration of grapes and musts.
2012 was very dry, it barely rained during Winter and the total rainfall so far is around 50% of the long term average. Contrarily to the normal, most balanced grapes actually didn't come from the vineyards near by the river level but those located in the middle of the hill.

And the Ports and wines reflect the weather for each year; In 2010 we had very good fruit, healthy and very balanced. The Ports are rich, elegant, maybe just needing a bit more of concentration and complexity to be an outstanding vintage; the Douro wines are likely to show some overripeness due to the hot and dry Summer.
In 2011 everything went really well (except that it required some extra grape sorting), abundant rain during the Winter, hot Summer but with some rain, few drops right before the harvest, never really threatening the quality or health of the grapes at that stage. And even some mildew in the vineyards - and this is arguable whether is good or not! - dropped the crop and concentrated the remaining grapes. So both Ports and Douro wines are complex, full bodied, very long lingerings, amazing dark colors and always ver balanced.
In 2012 what I really miss is complexity and long finish. The musts were rich ad fresh, but laking depth. So I guess we will have a nice LBV and some good Tawnies ready to drink earlier.

From what you have seen and tasted, what do you think of these harvests David?

For the next Colheita in line, I guess it will be the 1997. But it is still very dark and concentrated, need more time. A couple of years ago we thought 2012 would be a good year to release it but being now 2012, we think it is still too early. The 2000 Colheita is getting also in a good position, actually maybe as mature as the 1997.

[oscarquevedo]

Hey Oscar!

I believe you might be the first producer to extensively leverage social media, qr codes, etc. on you labels. I was wondering what your perception has been on how these efforts are paying off. I also wonder if you are seeing other producers following you lead?

Cheers my friend!
Stewart

Hey Stewart, nice first comment on a point that I really like. When we first started using social media, we didn't really know what to expect from it. For some decades in the family we were focused on growing grapes and making Port. Marketing and selling the wines was something that we needed to do, but was not for sure the funniest part of the whole thing. When I first started the blog, in 2008, I din't even dare to explain to my father what was all about. Sharing opinions and views and details of our daily life at the winery was something that still confuses many seniors in the Douro or anywhere in the world. But my sister and me were confident that this could be our way of differentiation from the rest of the crowd. Luckily, people everywhere adopted social media, and slowly our time-consuming investment started paying off. I think I'm not wrong if I tell you that at this time, 3 of our top 5 clients identified with our way of using social media and started selling our wines because of our on-line presence.

Slowly, more and more producers from the Douro, some very big, others very small, are using social media to communicate. And this is a great thing because there is still a gap between the information people are looking for and the quantity is provided by producers. Consumers want more and with more producers coming on-line this gap will slowly be reduced. And this is fantastic as more people can see what is going on in the Douro, with different views and perspectives. But a couple of things must be respected for a successful use of social media: (1) create a community in which you engage and look at the same level; (2) always share a honest opinion - we all have good and bad days, we are human; if we only talk about great things of our wines and vines sooner or later it will sound lake advertisement, and eventually followers may put an "artificial message" tag on it.

[Paul Fountain]

Hi Oscar,
How important do you perceive the lodge at Vila Nova de Gaia has been to marketing the Quevedo brand, since you opened it?

[oscarquevedo]

Hi Oscar,

First off I wanted to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be here with us for a week.

My question relates to "classic declared" years. In the past there has historically been 2-3 "classic declarations" per decade. However in recent times that line appears to be blurring. With some producers declaring more than that and some combining SQVP's and these "classic" VP's. Given all the advancements in technology do you see this old tradition changing and are we going to start seeing more classically declared years?

Part two of my question is...is having too many "classically declared" years a bad thing? As how does "declaring a year" for VP affect other product lines, such as basic rubies, tawnys, Colheita's, Douro wines, etc?

Andy, it's always a pleasure to share some ideas and comments with you guys here!

I think it is inevitable that we see more SQVP on the market and maybe also some more classic declarations. If we analyze the process of making and bottling VP in the past, lets say some decades ago, and how it is nowadays, there are relevant differences. In the past, the merchants based in Gaia, that until 1986 had the exclusive of the exports of Port Wine, produced very little Port from their own vineyards. Most Port was bought in pipas and brought to Gaia in boats, as you very well know. So the merchants had less influence on the grapes sourcing and fermentation, depending more on the skills of the growers and on the harvest itself. Nowadays, most of them own vineyards in the Douro and know better the vineyards. Technology also improved dramatically, and fermentation temperature control is now part of any serious winery. As a consequence, we may have 3-4 classic declarations per decade in the future. That actually doesn't shock me, as long as the quality is there. What really puzzles me is the hugh volumes that, in same cases, are produced, and the consequent reduction of quality. In these cases is certainly possible to have lower prices per bottle of Vintage Port, but at Vintage Port level price is not the first deciding factor.

In terms of how it affects other product lines, it doesn't affect that much, as it is still a very lower percentage of the total production. It may change a little bit the blend of the LBV and Colheitas, but I don't think it is relevant.

[oscarquevedo]

This might be of interest to some people and I thought it might be informative if you elaborated on it.

But Quevedo actually owns / co owns 8 different vineyards.

Quinta Vale d'Agodinho
Quinta da Alegria
Vale do Nedo
Quinta das Olgas

are all along various parts of the Douro

With 4 others to the south near San Joao Pesquiera

Can you speak about how you select the different vineyard sites for making which particular wine in your line up?

Oh and for the sake of disclosure, I am the NY distributor of Quevedo wines.

Jeff, thank you for the disclosure! You made me think when you mentioned the word "selected" but actually neither my sister or me could select anything in terms of quintas' location. My father planted 3 of the vineyards and our ancestors "selected" 3 more! So they chose, gradually and over four generations the locations of the vineyards. We are now working what we got, and let me say that very happy for having this diversity. 65% of the vines are located between the river level to up to 200 meters, spread out between the eastern part of the Cima Corgo and the middle of the Douro Superior. If we exclude a couple of SQ producers, we are the producer with the most eastern relative concentration of vineyards (is this understandable/ correct way of explaining it?). This raises somes problems in terms of aging of our Tawnies, as we need to invest more for they to get brown/orange colors and nutty, tawny-related flavors. But apart of some more time, I think we get beautiful grapes in terms of concentration and complexity. If we do something wrong, we can't certainly blame the grapes.

Among those vineyards located by the river (Quinta da Alegria, Quinta Vale d'Agodinho, Quinta das Olgas and Vale do Nedo, on this order west to east), Alegria is located in the north bank while the other three are located in the south bank and thus protected from the heat of the Summer sun in the Douro Superior. In terms of aging of the vineyards, all were planted in the 80's and some areas of Alegria and Olgas replanted in 2004.

Those vineyards located at higher altitude, such as Trovisca or Sra Rosário (in front of the winery) help us to balance the musts due to produce fresher grapes, which in years like 2003 or 2012 gain even more importance.

For our Vintage Port we use around 50% of the grapes from Quinta Vale d'Agodinho, by far the most balanced and diverse/complex vineyard. The rest comes from Olgas and Vale do Nedo and a little bit from Alegria if the Summer was not too hot. LBVs and Colheitas similar, just from parcels that didn't perform so well in years that we made Vintage Port. If we didn't make Vintage Port we will certainly use the best grapes for LBV and Colheita.
Claudia's come almost exclusively from the coolest part, the north facing vines of Vale d'Agodinho while Oscar's "grows" in Trovisca, at around 550 meters above the sea level.

[oscarquevedo]

Thank you Senhor Quevedo. I hope you succeed in finding potential importers in western Canada next June - and you will very likely be impressed by Penticton and the Okanagan valley. You may be in for a shock when you see the price of imported wines here by comparison to almost everywhere else.

If I can somehow drag myself away from here, I would gladly take up your invitation - and bring some wine also. I'm pleased to hear you are also an enthusiast of the Cotes du Rhone, and expect you and Roy have had some very fine Barolo together.

Thanks again,
Ray

Looking forward to visit Okanagan. I've never been in BC, only in Niagara area but it's not the easiest area to grow grapes.

When possible we have arrange some tastings with Roy and other fellows of the forum. I've always a great time! I hope you can make it one day!

[oscarquevedo]

Btw, are you guys going biodynamic/organic? I recall you mentioned something about it when I visited, but I coulnd't find anything on the website.

We are converting 5ha of Quinta da Trovisca Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional into organic production. This is the second year of a three-year period for full conversion. The idea is to make a Port and an organic version of Oscar's. Thank you for the hint, I'll start to talk about this on the blog!

[Roy Hersh]

Oscar,

You are doing a brilliant job with responses and as with others who have been our Guest Corner Host in the past, this will be read by thousands of people in future years. So long before the week is over, I just wanted to say thank you!


Now, for another easy question and follow up:

What role do the cooperatives play, (a topic rarely if ever discussed here on FTLOP or elsewhere) in the financial success or lack thereof, of the typical Duriense grape farmer? How do you see this changing, if at all, over the next decade or two?

[oscarquevedo]

Hi Oscar,

First off, thank you for being here!

My question centers on closures. For someone who makes one of the most long lived forms of wine on earth, a good closure is obviously essential to the soundness of your wine 20, 30 or 40+ years down the road. How do you ensure that you have corks that are most likely to stand the test of time, and have you ever considered other closures, especially for wines designed to be drunk young. I can't say I've ever seen a Portuguese wine with an alternate closure, so I'm also curious about the opinion on them amongst the trade in your country in general.

Hi Bradley, few years ago your question was probably more difficult to answer than it is now. When the plastic cork and screw cap emerged, we were confused by the real advantages of these closures, when compared with real cork. After a decade of research, it looks like both of these new closures fail, plastic cork because after some months looses and allows too much oxygen to pass into the bottle and the screw cap because reduces the wine once it doesn't allow any oxygen to circulate. Normacorc, the biggest manufacture of the plastic cork, is now offering a new service to the producer in which they determine the amount of oxygen that the wine will need during the aging (and here it depends for how long people want to age the bottle) and thus producing a cork that allows more or less oxidation, depending on the winemaker's preferences. You may have heard about this before.

We have never considered anything else but natural cork. However, we have a client that for quite some time is asking us to use screw cap on the entry level Ports, those intended to be drunk after some months of bottling. But the Port Wine Institute does not accept any other closure, so for now we can't use anything else. The merits of cork? I don't know if it is the best closure in the world. But at least it deserves a lot of credit for being in the market for so many decades as the preferred closure of the long aging wines produced all over the world. But screw cap is absolutely much easier to use and reuse!

[Ray Barnes]

Hello again Senhor Quevedo, I remain curious about the inspiration behind the artistic labels on the Oscar's and Claudia's Wine releases, especially since they are so different in character from all the Port labels.
Thank you again, Ray

[Glenn E.]

I'll ask an easy one to start out - when is your next trip to Seattle, Portland, or Vancouver Canada?

Glenn, as devoted to social media, I love to go to both wine bloggers conferences, the European and the American. The European took place last week in Izmir, Turkey. Next year the American is in Penticton, Canada, 6-8 June, and I am very tempted to go. Would be great if we could organize a Port tasting right after the conference. Something similar to what we did in 2010, which was fantastic!

That'd be a long drive, but I think it'd be worthwhile!

Quevedo has some really amazing old Colheitas that I have been lucky enough to be able to try. I understand that those are mostly for private use, but it made me wonder. How are old stocks like that typically registered, and if a company wanted to do so could they use them to jump start a 20-yr old (or older) tawny blend? Or are new producers limited to purchasing older stocks from competitors when they want to start selling aged tawnies?

Aged tawnies are my favorite Ports, but it seems like that would also be the most difficult part of the business to get started.

[Jeff G.]

Aged tawnies are my favorite Ports, but it seems like that would also be the most difficult part of the business to get started.

if you wanna buy 5 cases, I make it happen for you

[Rob C.]

Oscar - which (if any) of the Quevedo wines / ports are suitable for vegans / vegetarians?

I have one very particular friend who always refuses to drink whenever i offer a glass of wine/port on the basis that i can never provide a definitive answer!

[Ray Barnes]

I am very interested to hear if our distinguished guest offers any reason why wine is not safe for vegetarian or vegan consumption. To the best of my personal knowledge (which is admittedly not saying much), even the use of animal by-products in the fertilization of vineyard soil does not constitute a violation of a vegan diet, and that is really splitting hairs.

(Edited by Moderator: Please refrain from religious statements and keep it to a question and answer type format related to our guest. Thank you for your understanding.)

[Rob C.]

I am very interested to hear if our distinguished guest offers any reason why wine is not safe for vegetarian or vegan consumption. To the best of my personal knowledge (which is admittedly not saying much), even the use of animal by-products in the fertilization of vineyard soil does not constitute a violation of a vegan diet, and that is really splitting hairs.

I'd also be interested to hear Oscar's opinion, but the problem from the perspective of a strict vegan (and, in a narrower range of cases, strict vegetarian) is that the fining process often (though not always) uses animal byproducts such as fish bladder (which can also cause issues for those on a kosher diet), cattle connective tissue, egg whites, and gelatin.

[Ray Barnes]

If small quantities of animal by-products are using in the fining process - and I had not considered this - I wonder how this has any bearing on the contents of the finished wine, assuming said products remain at the winery? I don't think a vegan can complain about an animal by-product used in the preparation of a food or drink, as long as said item is not actually an ingredient.

[oscarquevedo]

Hi Oscar,
How important do you perceive the lodge at Vila Nova de Gaia has been to marketing the Quevedo brand, since you opened it?

Great to have someone from Australia here. I strongly believe that Port Wine could do much better in Australia, should more producers decided to jump to this market. It's a bit far, but there is an interest for fortified wines, which is the first step.

Now about the lodge in Gaia. It has been tremendously important. My family has been growing grapes and making Port for many decades in the Douro valley. But it was just that, producers without any contact to exports. We have been selling a little of Port to the domestic market, but low volumes. So when we first approached the European market, mostly the traditional markets for Port such as France, Belgium and Holland, back in 1994, we had a lot to do. It was a totally new name for importers as well as for consumers. Slowly, more importers and distributors got to know us through fairs and meetings. But to reach consumers, on a broad level, the marketing effort is much more difficult but absolutely necessary. Only this way we can help our distributers to sell our wines. That's when social media became so important for us, and joining it on an early stage, when no one else among producers was using it, was a big advantage. So after having a solid presence on~line was time to start focusing on the traditional channes, those that other producers were using for ages. And with Porto slowly becoming a top wine destination, it was time to join the community and find a nice spot in Gaia.

[oscarquevedo]

Oscar,

You are doing a brilliant job with responses and as with others who have been our Guest Corner Host in the past, this will be read by thousands of people in future years. So long before the week is over, I just wanted to say thank you!


Now, for another easy question and follow up:

What role do the cooperatives play, (a topic rarely if ever discussed here on FTLOP or elsewhere) in the financial success or lack thereof, of the typical Duriense grape farmer? How do you see this changing, if at all, over the next decade or two?

Roy!
Many cooperatives are doing a bad job and few others are working even worse. There are not even a handful of cooperatives that are an exception to this. And this is not good for the small growers that produce few dozes of boxes of grapes. The managers at the cooperatives still present low skills, and what is worse, not always fight for the best interests of the associates. Cooperatives are making the lowest and cheaper quality Ports and wines in the region, few are bottling Port with a reasonable volume (among the top 15 of the biggest sellers of bottled Port there are no cooperatives) and despite the volumes they move, they can't still pay the grapes at a average price level to the growers.

So it is with no surprise that more and more grape growers look for private Port producers to sell their grapes to. Between 2008 and 2011 cooperatives had a reduction of almost 50% in the bottled Port they sell. I have no idea about the bulk sales. Certainly are not so dramatic, but from these figures we can extrapolate how cooperatives will perform during the next decade. I'm sure some will survive, and will be even better than now. But mostly will fall apart soon.

[Andy Velebil]

Oscar,

We've been told or heard the price of brandy has gone up significantly. How does this affect the price of Port? And how is that cost increase for brandy absorbed and/or spread across the range of Ports?

Thanks again!!