The Douro map of the Baron of Forrester

The Scottish Baron Joseph James Forrester carried out the topographical and geological survey of the Douro in the mid-19th century (around 1848). It was the first detailed map of the region — a precise portrait of the river, the slopes and the estates at a time when the Douro was still, in large part, territory yet to be fixed.

A map on the bottle

It is that historic map that the design of Palato do Côa evokes: the name “MAPA” and the green “zero” point on the bottle directly reference Forrester’s survey. A way of saying, without words, that the wine begins from an exact place — and that this place has a long history.

Origin and exact place

A map is, at heart, a statement of origin: here, and nowhere else. That is the spirit of the house editions that speak most of terroir, such as Vinha da Migalha — old vines over 60 years, the purest expression of the place the map came to fix.

Forrester’s map detailed the eastern frontier of the Douro Superior as far as where the Côa river flows into the Douro — a valley that holds a secret far older than any vineyard.