Our website uses cookies in order to work correctly and to improve your browsing experience. By browsing this website, you agree to our Cookie Policy.
VINEYARDS
The Douro: a terroir like no other - The Douro is perhaps the most challenging wine-growing region on earth. Its mountainous terrain and steep, winding valleys create a kaleidoscope of microclimates, each producing unique wines. The result is great complexity and balance.
Graham’s owns five mountainous vineyards, which are located in different parts of the best wine-growing areas of the Douro region. Each property has the maximum ‘A’ grade classification. Much of the original wild flora has been left deliberately undisturbed amongst the vines on these estates to preserve the indigenous biodiversity, which Graham’s believes contributes to making wines with a more unique and powerful expression of this terroir.
As you leave Porto, heading east up the River Douro you pass through the Marão range, which rises to 1,400 metres from the coastal plains. On the other side of these mountains you enter a different climate. Protected from the influence of the Atlantic Ocean this region (known as Trás-os-Montes, or ‘Behind the Mountains’) becomes increasingly Mediterranean. The temperatures in the Douro valley fall below freezing in winter and consistently climb above 35°C in summer.
These harsh conditions are in fact ideal for making wines of great power and concentration. Each year the vines face a struggle against the elements and competing vegetation. Most years they triumph, producing tight bunches of small, thick-skinned grapes, packed with flavour and ripened to perfection.
The Douro is divided into three sub-regions, different in terms of their rainfall, soil composition and general topography. These are the Baixo Corgo, the Cima Corgo and the Douro Superior: the latter two being the most important for the production of the finest quality Ports. The Douro is also home to indigenous grape varieties, whose characteristic intensity and resilience make them integral to the production of Port. There are 116 varieties (49 white and 67 red) officially permitted by the Douro and Port Wine Institute (Instituto do Vinho do Porto e do Douro, IVDP), although in fact only a small proportion of these are widely cultivated.
Much of the Douro is extremely inaccessible and vineyards have to be carved out of the steep mountainsides. For centuries, dry-stone walled-terraces have been constructed by hand: some of these mountain vineyards are so steep that each terraceholds just one row of vines. These ancient terraces remain a dramatic and beautiful feature of the Douro landscape and contributed to its designation as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.