[ Blog ]Group | 30.07.2026

Quinta do Cascalhal:
the Douro at the table,
in wine and olive oil.

Among vines, olive trees and schist slopes, Quinta do Cascalhal turns the identity of the Douro into wines and olive oil where tradition, land and time come together.

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INTRODUCTION

There are places the landscape alone does not explain. They are explained by their history, by their people and by everything the land has kept over the generations.

In Folgosa do Douro, in the heart of the Cima Corgo, Quinta do Cascalhal grows out of that deep relationship with the land. Vineyards and olive groves follow the slopes, in a setting shaped by schist, by the river and by a farming culture that formed the Douro over centuries.

This is where the Quinta do Cascalhal wines and olive oil come from: products that seek to bring to the table not only flavours, but a reading of the place where they were made.

More than 300 years of knowledge tied to the Douro

The history behind Quinta do Cascalhal carries with it more than three centuries of knowledge and tradition.

It is an inheritance that today shows in an approach seeking to reconcile past and future: to respect the character of the region, to preserve the knowledge built up, and at the same time to bring rigour and ambition to present-day production.

Every wine begins long before the harvest. It begins with the choice of plots and grape varieties, with the work carried out through the whole cycle of the vineyard, and with the decision on the right moment to pick. Then it continues in the winery, where each lot follows the process judged best suited to the expression sought.

From the land. From time. From the Douro.

A row of Quinta do Cascalhal vines backlit in late afternoon
01 – VineyardFolgosa do Douro
Bunches of red grapes on the vine, with autumn foliage
02 – Grape varietiesHand harvest

Wines that seek to reveal their origin

The Quinta do Cascalhal range covers different expressions of DOC Douro wines, from the fresher, more direct wines to the Reservas and Grandes Reservas.

The reds draw on grape varieties emblematic of the region, such as Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz. In the whites, Gouveio, Viosinho and Arinto take the lead, seeking to bring together fruit, freshness, minerality and structure. The harvest is done by hand and the winemaking is in the care of Jorge Alves.

The DOC Tinto, for instance, seeks to show the character of the fruit and of the terroir without ageing in wood, staying in stainless steel vats. The Reserva and Grande Reserva wines explore another dimension, turning to French oak to build greater structure, complexity and depth.

In the Grande Reserva Branco, Gouveio, Viosinho and Arinto give rise to a wine marked by stone fruit, minerality and freshness, alongside notes of wood. In the Grande Reserva Tinto, the varieties from the oldest plot on the estate are worked together, seeking a balance between fruit, structure and elegance.

The Quinta do Cascalhal DOC Douro range lined up against a neutral background
03 – RangeDOC Douro
A schist outcrop in the middle of the vineyard, on a Douro slope
04 – SchistSoil

When the schist reaches the barrel too

One element runs through the whole Douro landscape: schist.

It is in the soils, in the terraces and on the slopes. At Quinta do Cascalhal, the connection to this element reaches into how some of the wines are aged.

Most of the wood-aged wines use French oak barrels whose toasting is done with the help of heated schist stones. According to the estate, this process seeks to promote an even heating of the wood and to contribute to a mineral expression of its own, with greater depth and aromatic complexity.

It is a technical detail, but above all a way of bringing into the winery one of the most characteristic elements of the place where these wines were born.

From vineyard to olive grove

But Quinta do Cascalhal does not end at the vineyard.

The olive trees are part of the landscape and of the farming activity of the estate, extending the relationship with the land in another direction.

Quinta do Cascalhal olive oil is a superior category olive oil obtained directly from olives and solely by mechanical means. Produced in the Douro, it has a profile described as intense and balanced, seeking to preserve the character of the fruit and the identity of the land.

Wine and olive oil start from different fruit, but share the same origin: a demanding landscape, worked over generations, where vineyard and olive grove are part of the identity of the Douro itself.

A bottle of Quinta do Cascalhal extra virgin olive oil resting on an olive trunk
05 – Olive oilExtra virgin
The terraced Quinta do Cascalhal olive grove in the Douro, during the harvest
06 – Olive groveDouro

Much more than producing

Preserving an estate like Quinta do Cascalhal also means preserving culture, landscape and knowledge.

The project seeks to bring that inheritance together with forward-looking management, setting tradition, innovation, efficiency and sustainability side by side. The ambition is to produce wines and olive oils of high quality without losing what gives them their identity: their origin.

Because, in the end, what reaches the bottle began long before.

It began on the slope.
In the schist.
In the vine and the olive tree.
In the work of those who know the land.

Source: Quinta do Cascalhal – quintadocascalhal.pt

It is Douro.
It is Quinta do Cascalhal.

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Learn the history, the wines and the olive oil of an estate where more than three centuries of Douro tradition meet a new generation.

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