Quinta do Vale Doña Maria is the property of Cristiano van Zeller, former owner of legendary Port house, Noval. After his family sold Noval, Cristiano set out to promote and foster a certain attitude and marketing thrust in the Douro: the specialist, small-volume, vineyard-based Quinta. Cristiano is the driving force behind 'The Douro Boys' - a collection of great Quinta-based producers. As well as Doña Maria, these include Niepport, Vallado Meão, and the wines of Cristiano's head winemaker, Sandra Tavares. Vale Doña Maria is situated in the relatively cool valley of a tributary of the Douro, Rio Torto. It's a property long held in ownership by Cristiano's wife Joana's family, There are 16 hectares of very old field blend vineyards (50+years), 10 hectares of younger vines, and 5 hectares of vineyards under management. A considerable amount of time, energy, planning and expense have gone into re-vivifying vineyards.