Historical records refer to the immense diversity Vesúvio as far back as 1565, describing its orange, lemon, almond, olive and fig trees. For many years it remained a wild, untamed landscape, as much of it still is. In 1830, after a spectacular harvest in the Douro, António Bernardo Ferreira I dreamt up what, according to the Viscount of Vila Maior, was his “fantasy or caprice”. He decided to rename his Quinta das Figueiras, Quinta do Vezúvio,...
Quinta do Vesúvio is situated far upriver in the Douro Superior, 120 kilometres from Portugal’s Atlantic coast and only 45 kilometres from the border with Spain. The Quinta’s special reputation for producing outstanding wines goes back into the nineteenth century, when the Viscount of Villa Maior wrote, “All this wine is made scrupulously and to perfection… this Quinta was made as if for princes…”
Vesúvio has a total area of 326 hectares (806...
The winery at Vesúvio, built in 1827 and unchanged since then, is a testimony to a largely lost art of winemaking. Every year in the autumn men and women gather here in the cool of the evening to tread the grapes that they picked that day.
It takes approximately 50 people to tread one lagar, a process that is conducted in two phases: first there is the “corte”, in which the treading team march rhythmically forward and backward in several line...
Although mesmerizingly beautiful and grand, Vesúvio betrays also its original purpose: not an aristocratic house but the Douro office of an estate manager. There is no elaborate entrance. Instead you enter the house through a small door into the kitchen. Today there is also a spectacular shaded terrace overlooking the river, which has become the heart of the house. But in Dona Antónia’s day life at the Quinta gathered around her office. The Sy...
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