The estate’s flagship wine. At Quinta do Cadão, the Grande Reserva Vinhas Velhas is the wine that brings everything together: the oldest vines, the finest grapes, and the patience to allow the wine to mature until it is truly ready. It is crafted for those who wish to discover a truly great Douro wine—powerful, profound, and full of character. The 2018 Cadão Vinhas Velhas Grande Reserva displays a deep ruby-red hue and an intense bouquet of black fruits, such as blackberries, black cherries, and cassis, complemented by alluring notes of dark chocolate and vanilla. On the palate, it is structured, dense, and full-bodied, featuring powerful yet ripe tannins and a long, warm finish. After eight years of maturation, its strength and complexity have harmoniously integrated.
In short, this is a Grande Reserva that showcases what the Douro region can produce, even in a challenging year. Powerful, profound, and award-winning, it is currently at its absolute best. An ideal bottle for the holiday season, a special dinner, or as a thoughtful surprise for someone.
Food pairing
The estate’s flagship wine. At Quinta do Cadão, the Grande Reserva Vinhas Velhas is the wine that brings everything together: the oldest vines, the finest grapes, and the patience to allow the wine to mature until it is truly ready. It is crafted for those who wish to discover a truly great Douro wine—powerful, profound, and full of character. The 2018 Cadão Vinhas Velhas Grande Reserva displays a deep ruby-red hue and an intense bouquet of black fruits, such as blackberries, black cherries, and cassis, complemented by alluring notes of dark chocolate and vanilla. On the palate, it is structured, dense, and full-bodied, featuring powerful yet ripe tannins and a long, warm finish. After eight years of maturation, its strength and complexity have harmoniously integrated.
In short, this is a Grande Reserva that showcases what the Douro region can produce, even in a challenging year. Powerful, profound, and award-winning, it is currently at its absolute best. An ideal bottle for the holiday season, a special dinner, or as a thoughtful surprise for someone.
Food pairing
It pairs well with robust, characterful dishes: game such as venison fillet, wild boar, or pheasant; red meat like rib-eye, leg of lamb, or beef stew; and aged, sharp cheeses.
Grapes: couriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão
“Vinhas Velhas” means old vines. They naturally produce few grapes, but small, concentrated grapes, full of flavor and character. The wine is made from three of the noblest Douro grapes. Touriga Nacional provides strength, color and a floral scent, and Touriga Franca brings ripe fruit, finesse and structure. The rare Tinto Cão adds freshness and elegance and gives the wine longevity.
Manual harvesting with careful selection of ripe grapes. Pelicular maceration and alcoholic fermentation at controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks. Post-fermentation maceration followed by malolactic fermentation. 18 months in French oak barrels followed by 6 months in the bottle. To keep the quality of this wine intact, there is no cold stabilization process and therefore the wine, as a natural product, may contain sediment with age
2018 was a year that winegrowers in the Douro will not soon forget. Heavy rain fronts and hailstorms swept across the valley from March to May, followed by a scorching July and August. The yield was 25 to 40% lower than the year before. A calm, sunny October gave the remaining grapes time to ripen perfectly. The result was few grapes, but of very high quality. This is ideal for a Grande Reserva from old vines: each bottle contains the best of a difficult but exceptional year.
Manuel Mateus is known in the Portuguese wine sector as a successful entrepreneur, but above all he is a man of the Douro: he has an unparalleled knowledge of the region where he was born and where he runs his business. The company he founded, Mateus & Sequeira, now owns 28 *quintas* (wine estates), which together cover approximately 600 hectares of vineyards and 50 hectares of olive groves. In addition, Manuel Mateus maintains close ties with around 2,000 local wine growers, from whom he purchases grapes.
Mateus & Sequeira wines are produced entirely in the company's three own wine centers – located in Peso da Régua, São João da Pesqueira and Vila Nova de Foz Côa – and are sold in more than 20 markets worldwide. Manuel Mateus is the father of two children, Cláudia and Pedro, both of whom are now fully integrated into the family business, and the grandfather of four grandchildren: Francisca, Afonso, Mateus Jr. and Pedro Jr. He has built a unique legacy that will forever leave its mark on the history of the Douro, the oldest demarcated wine-growing region in the world.
Alcoholcontent
15 %vol
Store & Serve
Serve at 16–18 °C. Let it breathe in a decanter for at least an hour, so that all the aromas can open up.
Critics & Awards
17,5/20 - Grandes Escolhas Tasted: Nov 2024
Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Tinto Cão. Intense, with evolving complexity with notes of blackberry, blueberry and raspberry, resins and pine needles, abundant sweet spice and notes of dark chocolate. Dense and muscular, with mature tannin, good polish from the barrel aging and long finish.
