Taylor’s Port owner The Fladgate Partnership has re-acquired the Vintage House Hotel it built in the heart of the Douro Valley – more than a decade after selling it.
Taylor’s originally opened the Vintage House Hotel in Douro as the first quality hotel in the midst of some of the finest Port vineyards, at Pinhão in 1998. But, it sold the venue four years later.
Now the company, also owner of Croft, Fonseca and Krohn, as well as the five-star Yeatman Hotel in Oporto, has bought the property and 14,000sq m of adjacent land from ECS, the company responsible for the Fundo Recuperação Turismo, which acquired it in 2013 following economic restructuring.
‘It will provide visitors who stay at The Yeatman in Oporto an opportunity to extend their visit in the Douro,’ said Adrian Bridge, Fladgate CEO.
‘Over the next few years, we will be working with the local authorities to create an improved tourism infrastructure in Pinhão, which we see as the centre of tourism in the Douro Valley, and where we have the potential to create a great visitor experience.’
Decanter.com understands that the extra land bought as part of the deal will allow an extra 30 rooms to be added to the current Vintage House capacity of 43 rooms and suites with river views, although this expansion may not take place for another two or three years.
Meanwhile, work is continuing on a new road between Oporto and Pinhão, including a tunnel cutting through the Serra do Marão mountain range, which will cut travel by car by 20 minutes when it opens next year.
The hotel is set to close in January and February 2016 for refurbishment before reopening in March.
