Wine Tasting

The Douro reveals itself slowly as an experience. Its wines are best understood not in a city tasting room but on the land that produced them - the vineyard, the schist soils and the terraces cut into impossible slopes by hand, generation after generation; everything that makes up the terroir.

Each visit is hosted by Elisabete, the owner of the estate and begins with a welcome and an introduction to the family's story and the Douro itself. Since Elisabete’s taking over the leadership of the Quinta the wines are now released under the Barderas Familia. Guests are introduced to the estate's historic cellars and lagares - the stone treading tanks in which Douro wines were traditionally made - vinification methods that shaped the region's winemaking for centuries. With the modernisation of winemaking, today the estate’s grapes are vinified in collaboration with selected Douro winemakers. Our whites are produced with a trusted grower in the region, selected to complement the estate's own reds.

The visit also includes the cozinha dos caseiros - the traditional kitchen of the vineyard workers - where the cooking customs, daily life and rhythms of the working estate are felt. It is a part of the visit that few tastings in the Douro can offer and one that places the wines in the broader context of the people and traditions that have shaped them.

The tasting itself walks guests through a selection of wines. The wines are served alongside the estate's own extra virgin olive oil, olives, a tomato dip, regional cheese, jams, raisins and local bread. The pairings are not decorative - they are the way the wines have always been read in this region and they form part of how Elisabete presents them.

The Estate Tasting | €80 pp
A guided wine tasting presenting two red wines and a white along with food pairings; about 1½ hours.

The White Collection | €120 pp (seasonal)
An experience with a focus on white wines presenting three white wines including a Reserva classified white wine and a 20 Year Old White Port along with food pairings; about 1½-2 hours.

The Reserva | €150 pp
An extended experience that presents a tasting of six wines - two reds including a Reserva classified wine, two whites including a Reserva classified wine, a 10 Year Old Tawny Port and a 20 Year Old White Port - along with food pairings; about 2 hours.

A Rural Stay | from €260 pp
Enjoy the Reserva or White collection together with an overnight stay - breakfast from the estate, a pool above the valley. This offering is available for a maximum of 2 rooms in our main house - more information on A Rural Stay. We do not usually provide lunches or dinners but we are very happy to refer you to one of a number of nearby restaurants we are familiar with.

We can usually host up to eight people in one private group for wine tastings. Tastings are offered in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

Please reach out via our form below - we are a working farm and so have to fit in around the farming activities. Elisabete will respond personally and will work with you on dates, group size and any particular interests you would like the tasting to reflect.

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