Quinta do Retiro Novo

Photograph of a wine estate located at the entrance of the village of Sarzedinho, sprawling on a hill overlooking the Torto river, on the opposite bank of Quinta de Cedovim, where an appreciable set of post-phylloxera terraces is preserved. This property was acquired in 1989 by the company Wiese & Krohn to the great-granddaughter of Manuel Magalhães (LIDDELL; PRICE: 1992, 147). Since 2013 it has been held by The Fladgate Partnership, which acquired Wiese & Krohn from the Falcão Carneiro family. The property stands out for the harmony of its housing nucleus, comprising buildings from different periods articulated by patios and the garden, being crossed by an agricultural path that leads to the neighboring Quinta do Bom Retiro. Also noteworthy are the orchard and the terraced vegetable garden located in a fold of the land, both for the terracing layout and for the water conduction systems of the stream that runs through the area. The estate consists of terraced vineyard plots from different eras, the most notable of which is located below the cellar, where pre- and post-phylloxera terraces are combined. With the limits marked by an olive tree border, this patch preserves wider and angular terraces next to the built core, the ones closest to the river being narrow and sinuous, following the contour lines. The two patches show the stairs and ramps aligned along the slope, making a zigzag pattern in some points. It is worth mentioning the use of schist gabions in the wall panels that frame the new winemaking center. The structures, with one cubic meter, were made with schist extracted from a quarry in Vilarinho dos Freires, arranged in more or less regular rows, in which larger blocks are fitted with smaller stones, with care being taken to set front.