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Quinta dos Vales
On the table there are three flasks with three unblended varietals — Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca —, a graduated cylinder, a tasting note on each, and a blank sheet for the proportions. Whatever comes of it is bottled, labelled and taken home. That's the blending workshop, and no other bodega in our catalogue has it: three hours, the best varietals of the year, a full regional snack and a bottle of your own wine. Before that, the house itself: an estate in Estômbar, outskirts of Lagoa, with its adega and barrel caves, toured with a running tasting and bread and olive oil to cleanse the palate between wines.
Photographs courtesy of Quinta dos Vales, property of the establishment
Ways to visit
The blending workshop
Three hours making wine. The year's best varietals are tasted separately, measured, tested, corrected, and the final proportion decided; what comes out is bottled and goes home with you, with a full regional snack included.
The Gold visit
The tour of the adega and barrel caves with a commented tasting at the end: four wines from the house's top range, with bread and olive oil between one and the next.
The Gold visit, private
The same visit and the same four-wine tasting, but with no one else: the bodega for your group alone, at your own pace.
The Standard visit, for groups
The same route through the adega and barrels, with a tasting of two standard-range wines. The entry option, served only to groups of more than eight — fits a tournament or a large group wanting a bodega stop without a full day.
A bottle with your name on it. Of all the bodega experiences in the catalogue, this is the only one you go home with something you made yourself — not a wine bought in the shop, but a blend that exists nowhere else, decided by you at the table, bottled and labelled.
How to book it
The regional snack can be added to any visit. Weekends and public holidays carry a surcharge, so we schedule on weekdays when dates allow. They also serve meals from 15 people and arrange other tailored activities, quoted case by case. The transfer from the hotel is quoted separately and always recommended.