Saturday, March 5, 2011

Visit Quinta do Vale Dona Maria - FTLOP Tour

As part of the amazing trip that Roy Hersh and Mario Ferreira put together, on February 24th we had the opportunity to visit Cristiano van Zeller at Quinta do Vale Dona Maria. The van Zeller family has possibly the deepest tentacles of any family in the Douro and if you mention a name... they are somehow related to Cristiano; as in a "six degrees of separation" way that you'll find humorous. The property is in a gorgeous part of the Douro, the various van Zeller Douro wines are great, Ports improving every year and this man knows about as much as anybody when it comes to the history of the Douro. Oh yeah, his family owned Quinta do Noval for nearly a century and also Quinta de Roriz until it was sold a little over a year ago.

This visit is going to be included in the documentary that is been filmed and produced by Zev Robinson.
Casting of this episode: Cristiano Van Zeller, Joana Van Zeller, Roy Hersh, Mario Ferreira, Sandy Becker, Ruth Becker, Luiz Alberto and, of course, the wonderful Douro Valley and its incredible wines.

I tried to capture with these pictures the beauty of the property and a little bit of the incredible hospitality of the Van Zeller family.
We had a great time that afternoon...
Muito Obrigado!!!


TheWineHub - http://www.thewinehub.com
One of the  pillars of TheWineHub is Wine Tourism. Whether you are a wine maker, or a wine drinker, we all enjoy having discoveries... TheWineHub exists to help you with that.

FTLOF - http://www.fortheloveofport.com
For The Love of Port provides comprehensive information and professional reviews of Vintage Port, Madeira and Douro wines.

Zev Robinson - http://zevrobinson.com
Filmmaker and artist with some thoughts on culture.



2 comments:

Jiffie Hart said...

Thank you for posting these beautiful photos. I'm not sure if you'll receive this note but here goes...

Can I be so bold as to ask for help!?

I am in Dayton, OH and we are fortunate enough to be visiting Critiano and Joana on March 13th and joining them for lunch. I am a bit confused about the location, and I wonder if you might help. (I've already bothered Joana and Cristiano enough!:) ) I had thought the Quinta was near Ervedosa do Douro; however, I just received coordinates these coordiantes from Joana, +41.100022, -7.304158, which places the Quinta over an hour from Pinhao. Here is a Google Map link: http://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203861982270640140975.0004ba19123540310496b&msa=0&ll=41.101863,-7.350368&spn=0.078,0.208569

Can you confirm the location?

Thank you.

Jiffie Hart
jiffiehart@woh.rr.com

Unknown said...

Very nice Pics and very nice post. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post. Really enjoyed the post.

Cyprus wine tour

40 Years of Winemaking at Russian River Valleys Sonoma-Cutrer by Philip S. Kampe

 Innovation in Winemaking at Sonoma-Cutrer began forty years ago. The focus has always been innovation for this Russian River Valley winery....