Quinta de Cidro Boal
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2025
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
roasted cod, creamy mushroom risotto, grilled poultry
✨ Technical Specifications
Quinta de Cidro, located in the high-altitude sub-region of São João da Pesqueira in the Douro, serves as an innovative terroir laboratory for Real Companhia Velha. Acquired in 1972, this historic estate has broken traditional boundaries by planting non-traditional varieties alongside native ones. The Quinta de Cidro Boal is crafted from the Boal variety (historically linked to Sémillon in this region), which thrives in the estate's clay-loam soils and cool breezes. The winemaking process typically involves fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel, with a portion of the blend undergoing aging in French oak casks. This technique imparts a sophisticated complexity, balancing rich, waxy textures and honeyed stone fruit notes with a vibrant, mineral-driven acidity characteristic of the high-altitude Douro terroir.
🍾 About the Producer
Established on September 10, 1756, by Royal Charter of King D. José I under the auspices of the Marquis of Pombal, Real Companhia Velha stands as Portugal's oldest continuously operating wine company. Entrusted originally with demarcating and regulating the Douro Valley, the company was acquired by the Silva Reis family in 1960. Today, under President Pedro Silva Reis and celebrated head winemaker Jorge Moreira, Real Companhia Velha oversees more than 550 hectares across historic quintas such as Das Carvalhas, De Cidro, Dos Aciprestes, and Do Casal da Granja. While famous for benchmark Port, the house pioneered fine Douro still whites, capitalizing on high-elevation schist and granite plateaus with wide diurnal shifts. Estate whites—most prominently the Quinta de Cidro mono-varietals and field blends spanning Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Alvarinho, and Sémillon (Boal)—rely on precision viticulture and parcel-specific vinification. These wines demonstrate remarkable tension, vibrant natural acidity, and an authentic, mineral-driven reflection of the rugged Douro landscape.
🍇 Grapes
Boal
🍷 ABV
13-13.5%