Via a closed winemaking system, everything - from (certified organic since 2010) grape growing and hand-harvesting to fermenting and aging, bottling and hand-labelling, packing and shipping - is done at Quinta do Tedo by our in-house team (save for some outsourced harvest hands, Spring and Summer weed whacking support, and specialised services like grafting). This allows us to control the entire process and resulting quality of the Portos and Douro DOC wines we produce at Quinta do Tedo.
Our Olive Oil follows a nearly 100% estate-crafted trajectory, but is processed from our hand-harvested olives entirely independent of other grower’s at one of Douro Valley’s few certified organic presses, Agrifiba in nearby Vila Real, with top-tier cold extraction equipment.
All that said, perhaps harder than producing Portos, Douro DOC Wines and Olive Oils according to the above traditional, sustainable and qualitative albeit costly methods, is selling them, especially when their fine quality warrant higher-than-average market prices.
Our Burgundian-Californian Bouchard Family bought Quinta do Tedo in 1992 to produce 100% estate-crafted Portos and Douro DOC wines with a terroir-driven approach. Our mature, low-yielding, certified organic, grade A classified (Portos equivalent to Burgundy’s Grand Cru) vineyards are composed of 20+ local grape varieties growing in schist soil on steep vineyard terraces subject to a dry and hot mediterranean climate. Our limited annual production (40-45,000 bottles of Porto and 10-15,000 bottles of Douro DOC wine) are vinous expressions our 14 hectare estate (10 of which are in production).
Unable and unwilling to compete in volume for supermarket shelves with historic English, Scottish and Portuguese Port houses, we decided to compete in quality and wine tourism, to invite visitors to better understand our beautiful Douro Valley region, grape varieties, viticulture techniques, traditional lagares for foot-treading and historic cellars for aging. In 2004, we were one of Douro’s first Quintas to open our doors 7 days a week for technical and personable tours in Portuguese, English, French and German, and Cellar Door sales.
To encourage visitors to get to know Douro Valley more deeply and beyond Quinta do Tedo, we added 4 charming B&B rooms in 2011 and Bistro Terrace in 2016. Since the early 2020s (save COVID), the tables turned, and now we struggle to supply demand from visitors, rather than stimulate it. In late 2025/early 2026 we will open a swank new Tasting Room, Casa do Cavalo, to offer more exclusive experiences and higher-end tastings for more visitors looking for them.
Quinta do Tedo is essentially our “open house” to share an authentic slice of our Douro Valley life and products with visitors. After all, we are not only a family-owned, but family-operated Quinta; I (Odile) live and work full-time at Quinta do Tedo; Vincent and Kay come into the picture June through October for the busy harvest season; and Paolo and Joseph (my brothers) support from afar (we are also co-creating a new “next generation” Douro DOC wine series to launch with Casa do Cavalo).
There is no recipe for success in wine tourism, yet with passion and hard work, good quality and a unique offer, a united team and vision, and satisfied customers coming back and spreading the word, we manage to sell the majority of our production Direct-to-Consumer. Other historic Quintas and new wine projects are embracing this strategy too. Douro Valley tourism is booming with visitors from all walks of life - from active hiking and biking trips, luxury hotels and restaurants and agencies flashing vintage and electric cars to large cruise ships and passenger vans.
We have always said “yes” to everyone, but have only recently started monitoring data to better understand the behaviour of each visitor profile. Some are collectors looking for old Tawnies and classic Vintage Portos, some dwell outside of city centers without access to the “wine shop around the corner” and buy in abundance year-after-year, and some are more interested in the experience - visiting, sipping and/or snapping photos for social media. Some walk-in to our Tasting Room without appointment, some reserved 1+ year ago, some entrusted a tour agency’s itinerary to include Quinta do Tedo. What they all have in common is leaving enamoured by Douro and Tedo Valley, and with newfound appreciation for Porto and Douro DOC wines.
In short, our vision is to untarnish the reputation Porto’s succumbed to from its 5€ flabby, sweet and alcoholic supermarket expressions, by sharing personable experiences, memorable bottles and authentic word-of-mouth marketing of the highest quality Douro Valley has to offer. And we are joined in this mission by neighbouring quality Quintas, and family, friends, consumers and industry professionals without whose support our vision wouldn’t be fruitful nor fulfilling.
Together we rise, and so do premium Porto sales - while alcohol consumption is not exactly skyrocketing at the moment, and global sales of Porto have decreased from 7.3 million cases in 2024, from 10.5 million in 2000 (mostly in the high volume, entry-level White, Ruby and Tawny categories made from lower grade vineyards), sales of premium old Tawny, Colheita, LBV and Vintage Portos, like those we produce at Quinta do Tedo, are growing in value and now make up over 50% of the value of all Porto sold.
On that note, and back to the point of this months’ blog, a huge thank you to our Tedo Patrons around the world (some Final Consumers for over 3 decades!) and our Partners in 16 countries who support us and share our vision - we raise our glasses to you, and look forward to our next interaction.
~ Odile Bouchard