Quinta do Fornelo

Photograph of a detail of Quinta do Fornelo. This property is located on the slope that goes from the road to the proximities of the Távora river. A short distance away is the village of Santo Aleixo. In the set are preserved vines in pre-phylloxera terraces, areas of orchard, wood and "mortório" recolonized by olive groves since the 1930s / 40s. This estate, once larger, belongs to the descendants of the Macedo Pinto family, whose properties were concentrated along the Távora valley, from S. Pedro das Águias to Quinta do Espinho, by the Douro. According to Rebelo da Fonseca, the wines of this valley gained great reputation in the 18th century, being known in Lisbon as Wines from Tabuaço (AZEVEDO: s.d., 230). The walls of the vineyard stand out for their irregular layout that follows the undulation of the land and incorporates the existing bluffs. The vines are trained in Guyot pruning, a modernization that the owner introduced only very recently, since the vines used to be kept with spur pruning. Still, some vines were left in this system, as a testimony of a moment in the history of the Douro viticulture. In this set, we highlight the preservation of shelters of vernacular construction and tanks for mixtures spread throughout the vineyard, as well as the orchard, with different fruit trees, that sprawls in a break of the land crossed by a walled watercourse and the capping serving as circulation ladder.