Quevedo

We at Wine Boutique were delighted to discover the wines of Oscar Quevedo and his family in Autumn 2009; they are truly delicious and at once represent both genuine artisan port creation and terrific value for money. We are proud and thrilled to be able to offer these ports for your enjoyment.

Quevedo was founded in 1991 as a family owned business in the heart of the Douro valley. The family's ancestors were passionately dedicated to their vineyards and to the culture that surrounded the production of wine. Consequently, the company was created as a seamless marriage between the initial phases of growth and production and the future promotion and selling of their own wines.

Currently, the estate is comprised of 100 hectares located in the regions of Cima-Corgo and Douro Superior, producing both red and port wines from only the five traditional port grapes Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão and Tinta Barroca.

Quevedo in the words of Oscar Quevedo Jr

The History

In 1991 Quevedo was created as a brand of Port, following the passionate dedication of the previous generations. The grand parents of our parents had already been dedicated to the production of wine. The vineyards of our mother’s family, the Morais Fernandes, were located in Linhares de Ansiães, in the Carrazeda district, on the right bank of the Douro River. The main property of the family is Quinta da Alegria, crossed by the Douro railroad and with a station with the same name as the vineyard, Alegria. From our father’s, the production of the family Costa was located in Valongo dos Azeites, in S. João da Pesqueira, place known not just for the olive oil (azeite) which gives the name but also for the fresh flavour of its dry white wine.

At the end of the 70’s, Beatriz Morais Fernandes and Óscar Quevedo decided to live and work in S. João Pesqueira: Beatriz was a doctor in the Health Care Centre and Óscar was a lawyer and administrator of the Registry Office. Then, keeping a close contact with the growing and production of wine, they fell in love with these arts. During the 80’s they increased the production area and at the beginning of the 90’s they built the winery which is currently the headquarters of Quevedo. So, in the middle 90’s the family did not only produce but also bottled and marketed its wines. And it did not stop here; it also started to open its doors to those who wanted to know and to discover the wines by the Quevedo’s perspective.

In order to assure the best grapes year after year, we started to extend our vineyards up to the 100 ha, as we currently cultivate in the rough sub-regions of Cima-Corgo and Douro-Superior, where the Douro traditional varieties prevail; and to honour its incomparable taste, we enlarged our winery and wine cellar, under the control of the winemaker of the family, Cláudia.

The results are wines with the flavour of the schist where they were born, with the sun that matured them and with the love with which they were cared.

With over a century of a dedicated life to the wine, Quevedo is much more than a brand, is a family who lives for the wine and is proud to offer to the world the best that Douro has.

The Family

João Quevedo is the patriarch of the Quevedo family. João was born in 1915 in Porto, where he spent part of his youth. He studied in Porto and also S. João da Pesqueira. He started working in the Tax Office of Vidigueira, a small town in the middle of Alentejo, where his son Oscar was born. Later he moved again to S. João da Pesqueira. Since he got married his preferred hobby was to help his father and his father-in-law in the vineyards. As soon as they could, he and his wife Josefina bought some vineyards and later inherited some more from his father, António Quevedo and his father-in-law Raul Gouveia Costa. João has been also dedicated and committed to the production of olive oil from the beginning.

Oscar Quevedo was born in 1946 in the village of Vidigueira, Alentejo and studied in S. João da Pesqueira and Coimbra, where he got a degree in Law. Then he worked as a notary and lawyer and in 1977 he and his wife, Beatriz, decided do go to S. João da Pesqueira to start producing grapes. In 1991 they built the winery from where all the Quevedo wines come from.

Claudia Quevedo is the winemaker of the family since 1999, after obtaining a degree in Enology in Vila Real. Before starting in Quevedo, Cláudia did a stage program in Barros & Almeida (acquired in 2006 by Sogevinus). She loves very old Port Wine aged in oak! She has a daughter, Beatriz.

The Philosophy

It is a long and uncertain road from the selection of the land up to the glass of wine at home or in a table of a restaurant. Due to the family tradition of wine production, the first part was not a problem: our family already had much experience in the cultivation and winemaking of the grapes. What were missing was the marketing, selling the bottled wine it produced; and many years had gone when it finally was possible. Maybe it was our great grandfather Raul`s phrase that fed these concerns: “Table wine (not port) just brings consumption”.

Some more steps were needed to close the cycle with which our father dreamt about: “From the vine to the glass”. Historically, Port marketing has been directed to a consumer with more than 50 years old, and all the communication was coherent with this profile. But on the other hand, the thirty years-old consumer has been forgotten and Quevedo wanted to find him.

So it was needed to create a brand suitable for the wines we produce and for the customer we want to communicate with. A genuine wine made for modern customers, who drink Port naturally and relaxed: actually an “easy-drinking” Port.

At the end it was easier than it seamed; after all the product was genuine and the one who tasted it felt in love with the Quevedo’s nectar. And it is in this genuineness of our wines that Quevedo’s success stands.

And if the customer wants to drink our Port at 55º, with ice or even White Port with soda, we will not say no. On the contrary, because if there is Port for all occasions, Quevedo just has to figure them out!

The Winery

The Quevedo cellar is located in S. João da Pesqueira, a small town in the heart of Douro Valley. Its 8000 square meters with a single mission: to pour the richness of the vineyards in each bottle.

After being picked manually, the grapes are brought in small containers to the cellar. There they are warmly received and checked in order to determine its temperature, acidity, colour and its baumé. Separated from the stalk and softly smashed, the grapes are placed in bins where they begin the process of fermentation. So natural yeasts transform the sugar of the grapes into alcohol. When producing port fermentation is interrupted with the addition of brandy and so Porto Quevedo is born.

The optimal environment for the aging process of the wine is a dimly-lit cask-room with a carefully controlled temperature.

This ambience allows for the ageing of the best Porto Quevedo.