Producer Profile
Quinta da Carolina
Douro, Portugal

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Quinta da Carolina

Douro, Portugal

Anchored in tradition with an eye on the future

Not many Douro producers have mastered the art of dry wines as Quinta da Carolina. For the past decades they have nurtured old vines on the dramatic slopes of Cima Corgo, the region’s prime growing area, to produce a range of restrained, elegant and terroir-driven pours, anchored in both tradition and innovation.

Location: Cima Corgo, Douro, Portugal

Working with us since: 2021

Website: quintadacarolina.pt

Interesting fact: Luis Pedro Cândido da Silva is involved in multiple winemaking projects beyond his family’s estate. In the context of his ‘day job’ as winemaker at Niepoort, he is part of the team that makes the company’s award-winning and world-renowned range. In partnership with formed university buddy and friend Carmelo Peña Santana, of Bien de Altura, he produces the El3mento wines, translating their shared approach to both the Douro and Gran Canaria terroirs.

Quinta da Carolina’s wines

Quinta da Carolina Douro, Portugal

It’s in Tabuaço, in the heart of the finest of the Douro’s sub-regions (Cima Corgo), that the Cândido da Silva family has built a reputation for the quality of their dry wines. An exceptional legacy in an area where most have invested almost inclusively in the production of fortified wines. So the region’s recent focus on its potential for dry styles has shed a new light on the work done by the family at Quinta da Carolina.

vineyards at Quinta da Carolina Douro, Portugal

Another important factor has been the energy brought by Luis Pedro, the family’s youngest, to the estate still managed by his parents. After studying oenology abroad, he started working with Dirk Niepoort and this is still his ‘day job’, from which he returns every day to Quinta da Carolina. His combined academic and professional experience now allows for a great interplay with the family’s in-house knowledge and tradition.

Quinta da Carolina owns different old vineyards, planted with the typical varieties from Douro Valley, all on schist soils and with Northern exposure. This provides ideal conditions for a longer, smoother ripening process and thus for the production of the high-quality fruit, instrumental for age-worthy wines, that Cima Corgo is so known for.

It is through a focus on viticulture and careful, light-handed winemaking that Quinta da Carolina’s wines get to express, primarily, the precision of the schist soils and the complexity of the fruit they yield.

With Luis Pedro as the next generation at the helm of the estate one can only expect great things for the future of this historical property.