"Roriz was already one of the most beautiful jewels of the Douro's enological crown". Viscount Vila Maior Portugal 1865

In the very earliest years of the 18th century, more than 150 years before the Port companies of Oporto began to build vineyards in the Upper Douro, a Scotsman named Robert Archibald travelled into the Douro.

He acquired a perpetual lease on a wild and isolated property between Pinhao and Tua. Here he built a rudimentary shooting box from which he hunted wild boar and partridge in the surrounding countryside. Shortly after he began to plant a vineyard on his land and Quinta de Roriz started to produce wine.

Robert Archibald's son, Diogo, accompanied the inspectors of the Marquis of Pombal, then Prime Minister of the King, Jose I, in the famous demarcation of the region in 1757. From Diogo Archibald, the Quinta passed into the hands of Nicolau Kopke and from him to his son's wife, Leonor Caroline van Zeller. Since 1815, the Quinta has been in the hands of the van Zeller family.

It is of interest to quote extensively from the authoritative work of the Visconde Vila Maior, published in Portugal in 1865. He wrote: "the first grower immediately chose this place with much discernment, for there to be established a first rate wine growing property".

Pedro van Zeller, associated to Quinta de Roriz, appointed Russian Consul in Oporto with plenipotentiary ambassadorial powers by Czarina Catherine on 15th March 1795. The Court of the Czars was a leading market for fine Port and in particular for Roriz.

He recorded Robert Archibald as having imported vines from Burgundy, almost certainly the Tinta Francisca that is still planted on part of the Quinta. Furthermore he added that the Quinta's wine "immediately showed itself to be different, with more body and colour, due to the undoubted influence of the soil, the exposure and the physical conditions unique to this part of the Upper Douro". Finally, Vila Maior stated "at the time of the demarcation, Roriz, already produced the best wines of the Douro and those that were the most sought after in England".

Christie's of London further echo this evidence of the outstanding quality of the wines of Roriz. Their catalogue records a sale of Roriz Port on 10th July 1828: 'Thirty dozens of fine Old Port... Including Roriz', the latter sold for 21 shillings a dozen. In 1872, 15 cases of Quinta de Roriz 1851 were sold at Christie's at the exorbitant price of 84 shillings per case.

Our Heritage

In 1907, various English wine merchants were asked to record their comments on Roriz. This is further evidence of the unique reputation enjoyed by the Quinta:

The original letter of appointement of Pedro van Zeller, written in Cyrillic and French and signed by Catherine of Russia

William Forrester, a partner in Offley Forrester since 1868, stated that he had been familiar with the wine of Quinta de Roriz since his early childhood, and remembered a bin of Quinta de Roriz wine in his father's cellar (the famous Baron) in 1856. "Anyone going up to the wine district of the Douro would know all about Quinta de Roriz."

William Masters, of W. H. Chaplin & Co. of Mark Lane, London: "Quinta de Roriz is the best quality we have dealt with vintages since 1854."

George Hardy Mason, partner of Mason Cattley & Co. went to Portugal in 1869 to buy wine: "it was a fact that Mason Cattley had paid 25% or 30% more for the wine obtained from Quinta de Roriz than for any other wine they bought." Their circular of 1896 stated: "At the famous Quinta de Roriz the vintage of 1896 is a truly royal wine, and suitable to be laid down as a remembrance of Her Most Gracious Majesty's Diamond Jubilee Year."

Thus the records show that the Ports from Roriz were the very first to be offered from an individual Quinta and fetched exceptional prices because of their outstanding quality. Through most of the 19th century Roriz was a leading Port and demand for the Quinta's wines in the British market was very high.

"Roriz appeared on the English market at least for over a century as a single quinta wine and appears to have the longest (documented) history of so doing." Alex Liddle in "Port Wine Quintas" 1992

During the 20th century the Roriz wines continued to appear, but now associated to shippers' names. It is now, at the start of a new millennium, that Roriz has been re-established as an independent producer and it is intended to regain its position as one of the pre-eminent Quintas of the Douro.

Today

Today Roriz is owned and managed by João van Zeller, the sixth generation of van Zellers to own the Quinta, who is determined to reinstate the Quinta's historically pre-eminent position.