Vale dos Aires

Join us at Bar Douro City on Saturday 13th June for a special afternoon wine tasting hosted by Miguel Queimado of Vale dos Ares, showcasing his Alvarinho wines from the heart of Vinho Verde’s Monção e Melgaço sub-region.

‍

‍

Miguel is a true vigneron, working exclusively with fruit from his family’s vineyards at Quinta do Mato. Although Miguel’s ancestors built the house and cellar on the estate in 1683, wine was historically made only for home consumption, with most grapes sold to the local co-operative. That changed in 2013, when Miguel launched the Vale dos Ares label with the ambition of realising the full potential of this exceptional site.

‍

‍

An Agricultural Engineering graduate, Miguel began restructuring the vineyards as early as 2006, after his grandmother agreed to let him take the reins. Located in Monção e Melgaço -  Vinho Verde’s Alvarinho hot spot, the estate is ideally positioned to produce some of the region’s most expressive wines. As Miguel explains, “I have one grape, so if I want different styles, I need to individuate; you can do it at the winery, but I want to focus on the differences in the vineyard.”

‍

‍

Those differences are key to Vale dos Ares’ identity. Representing the very best of the estate’s fruit (with the remainder still sold to the local co-operative), the range of four Alvarinhos reflects individual parcels ranging from 150m to 300m in altitude, with varying soil type, granitic and schistous, as well as differences in soil fertility, aspect, row orientation, and vine age. The Colheita is the estate’s fruit-driven expression, while the more structured Vinha da Coutada undergoes fermentation and ageing in French oak.

‍