The latest addition to the lodges in Gaia opened it’s doors in the summer of 2016: Quinta dos Corvos.

I bet that nearly none even of the biggest Port Wine enthusiasts had ever heard about that Quinta before.

Quinta do Estanho is already well-known to people that had the pleasure of tasting their wines over the last years at the Vinologia-Bar (which unfortunately doesn’t exist anymore). But rather than being a pretty unknown producer and to hope for a few tourists to find their way to one of the few locations that were selling the Ports of Quinta do Estanho, the family obviously decided to make their wines way more visible and to open a brand-new lodge in Gaia, taking advantage of the amazing boom of tourism in Portugal. The Cardoso family, owner of Wuinta do Estanho, bought in 1990 the Quinta dos Corvos – and they decided to use this name for this lodge. “Corvo” is Portuguese for “crow” – so we have now one more brand with a bird as symbol, joining the likes of Noval, Ferreira, Quinta do Tedo etc…

The lodge was remodeled from scratch – and as usual in Gaia, this means that you dig deep into history – here it was discovered that this building must have been part of Taylor’s at some point of time, because that word was written in big letters on one of the walls.

The lodge is not very large – this makes the tour very easy. There are a few guides that can walk you through the lodge, explain the different types of Port and make this a very personal one. It’s way more one-on-one than at the larger, well established lodges.

While the tours are interesting for the absolute newbies to Port, they don’t go very much into details. The purpose of this lodge is not to age wines – which makes it different from the other larger lodges. The purpose of this lodge is to sell wine by the bottle – for tourists, that like to venture off the beaten path and want to try something new. Quinta dos Corvos plays very well the “we are a small Portuguese family business in the world of anonymous wine corporations…” – which might have an appeal to certain tourists, but who knows the Port Wine trade well, knows that it is a very personal business, even in the largest companies, and by far most of it is in hands of Portuguese families…

Sometimes the large lodges with their perfect organized tours are a little bit intimidating to visitors – but here at Quinta dos Corvos from the moment you walk in you feel very well taken care of. As everything in the Port Trade, it comes down to the people involved – and the people here are very passionate and show it well.

After the tour you can taste three basic Ports – or you upgrade. The three basic Ports are pasrt of the tour (which costs EUR 5) – but I recommend you don’t leave this lodge without tasting their 30 year old Tawny – that is an interesting wine, and for EUR 10 not too expensive. On the vintage side, I like very much their 1996 (also EUR 10). These two wines give a good overview about the quality of the wines.

You can buy the wine directly here and getting it shipped to your home-address – like in all the other lodges. I understand that the Port trade was dominated for many generations by the Porto-based shippers – and very little money reached the Douro – and I get that now some of the Douro-based families decided it’s time to turn the table and to make some money on their own. A Quinta dos Corvos Vintage 1994 costs EUR 120; a basic white Port EUR 16 and a Rubery Reserve EUR 19. These are steep prices. Should you buy a bottle, then you don’t need to pay the EUR 5 for the tour and tasting – so that’s pretty fair.

However, I hope that the people that buy these wines enjoy them at some point of time and it brings back memories from this visit – because this is what they really pay for: for the unforgettable experience that they had at the lodge.

By the way: Don’t be surprised when you go over to Porto Augusto’s and meet the same employees – both lodges are related to each other…

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E-mail : info@quintadoscorvos.pt

Phone : +351 223744380