ThePortForum.com

The idea and practicality of operating a vineyard and winery on a micro scale has occupied my mind in idle moments for some time, although I have to concede that as viable business venture it would be a complete non-starter.

Moreover, the prospect of filling out the IVDP paperwork for miniscule bottling runs is enough to dampen anyone's enthusiasm!

It would only really make sense as part of a purpose-built tourist attraction - which is not my idea of fun!

However, I am in the market for a scrap of good vineyard with a small house (or remains of a house) attached, preferably in the Cima Corgo.

(I would anticipate selling most of the grapes, but maybe vinifying a very small amount for friends and visitors.. )

Anyone hear of a property for sale (at a sensible price..) please let me know!

Tom

I look forward to tasting Archer's Long Vintage 2010 sometime in 2025

Derek

Yep - I'll need to find some small used barrels, build a bathtub sized lagar or three, and maybe my very own 'robo-stomp' - pneumatics to the rescue!

Tom

Now that would be a Harvest Trip worth going on!

You could seek investors, entitled to a case from every vintage, forever — with an undertaking that the same requirement will be imposed on any subsequent purchaser.

Julian,

I have no problem with that!

Now find me a suitable property...!

Tom

You could boost your American sales with a pure Touriga Nacional vintage. I’d like to try that.

Jerry Luper's quinta is for sale...
A beautiful property along the Douro (next to Kopke's Sao Luiz and with a view to Quinta do Crasto), with IIRC about 4ha of vineyard.

Tom,

We're not going to see you in one of those awful programmes, my Deborah, is hooked on? Relocation,Relocation, and the like?

"Here's Tom who's always had a hankering for a Port Vineyard...We meet Tom as he puts his worldy belongings and his two cats in the Campervan!"

I dont think I could stand it!

Alan

"Here's Tom trying to negociate with the Portuguese builders who finally showed up at the construction site after a mere 2 months of promises..."

It would make good television, really.

'Following the disappointing lack of interest in Uncle Tom's VP En primeur announcement he takes his entire 2010 allocation down to the local market for early release......'

Jerry Luper's quinta is for sale...
A beautiful property along the Douro (next to Kopke's Sao Luiz and with a view to Quinta do Crasto), with IIRC about 4ha of vineyard.

How big - how much - how do I contact him?

Tom

“IIRC about 4ha† suggests almost 10 acres.

Don’t do price discussions here — it would hamper your negotiating position.

This, by you-know-who, says that he can be contacted via Royal Oporto.

Conky wrote:awful programmes … Relocation … "Here's Tom who's always had a hankering for a Port Vineyard...We meet Tom as he puts his worldy belongings and his two cats in the Campervan!"

His worldly possessions except his port cellar, maybe. But not all his worldly possessions, you may be sure.

OK - I've made contact with Mr Luper - I realise now that this is the property that got featured in the New York Times.

It's clearly a very fine house - large and recently built - coming complete with winery (for table wines) - and bottling plant.

As a business investment though, it doesn't stack up - if you borrowed the money to buy the place, you'd need to clear $30 profit on every bottle produced just to pay the interest - ouch!

I can see a retired NY banker taking a shine to it though...

He mentions that the property includes the ruins of a 19th century winery that could be converted - I will ask him if it's feasible for that to be considered as a separate property.

Tom

This picture shows me with Mr. Luper standing at the ruins of the 19th century winery. I'm not sure of course but it seems to me that it will be difficult to make a seperate property out of it. It was pretty close to the house.

Having been at the quinta I can testify that it is a beautiful location and a very pleasant house. For your plans, I can see that it may be a bit too much.

Tom: there might be value in exploring this.

And is the Luper property visible on Google Earth? Could someone clever provide a link?

Here it is - beautiful quinta, beautiful location!

Edited, because I made the same post as Stevie...

Stevie, how do you post such a beautiful big picture from GoogleEarth, I only managed a small one through Flickr.

Hmm, the picture above is also posted from flickr.

Saved image in Google Earth and uploaded it into my account. I then selected the largest size and used that url in my post above. Perhaps I just saved the picture larger than you did Ronnie.

Thanks for that link Julian - there's a couple of good resources there.

I've also done a bit of digging on the state of the Portuguese property market.

- Seems they've followed the lead of the Spaniards, and got seduced by low eurozone interest rates on 40yr mortgages. Now those interest rates are rising, it's not looking so clever, and prices are beginning to fall.

Looks like I need to be careful not to pay over the odds!

Tom