Open Door - March 13th 2010

Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen,

A big 'thank you' to all those who took part in our Open Door on Saturday March 13th! Everything was just perfect, from the weather to the wine, the art presented to the mood of all of us. We have seen a lot of smiling faces! Our head count came up to 2.500 visitors and then we lost track.

I want to share something which is self-explanatory and quote in this respect Catrin George:

'The memory which will stay with me most of all is talking to a Portuguese lady who knew the Quinta before the change of ownership and what she said concerning the changes. This was so well phrased that I had to share it with you:

The Quinta has experienced a magical change. When walking through the Quinta you feel free as a bird, your mind can drift, the art and artists inspiring your thoughts. Wherever you go you find joyfulness, natural beauty and little oases of serenity, which invite you to take a break.

Is that not great? I did not know the woman and therefore found it even more impressive that she was so open to me.'

Could we get a better compliment?

Our Wines were accepted with a lot of enthusiasm. I must admit that we were a bit nervous as neither I nor a member of my team had tasted the wines since they were bottled in the middle of February. What can we say: we have never experienced such sales in our wine shop before!

Should your preferred restaurants not yet have our wines please give them our contact details!

It will take some time now before we release our next wines as we want to give the 2008 reds a bit more time. Both the 'Primeira Selecção 2008' and the 'Grace Vineyard 2008' are already bottled and maturing in the bottles, awaiting their release later this year.

We will have our next Open Door soon, no later than the release of the 2008 reds. In December we will introduce a small lot of our first sparkling wine which has a slight pinkish apricot color and a promising taste. But let us wait until it is corked! Ultimately it is you, the client, who makes the decision and not us.

In respect of the Art I feel I may have disappointed some of our visitors as I had promised an exhibition of our new bronze collection. We had everything prepared but unfortunately the foundry in the Alentejo, where we cast the pieces, faced some weather related problems. The wax sculptures need an inner and outer ceramic shell before the bronze pouring can begin. Due to the high humidity these ceramic shells could not dry enough and I decided not to rush it due to the risk of compromising the quality. You will see these and more the next time you visit us.

One final comment about the Art activities: Some of you approached me with ideas of further art activities, being it workshops or gallery-like events. As I was very busy on Saturday I did not have the time to talk to everybody whom I wanted to, so let me share now my position with you: Yes, I am open for other culture and art related activities. I have actually planned to have sculpture courses at the Quinta together with accommodation (in Casa Artista) BUT I simply do not have the time to prepare and organize it them. If anybody has a solid concept AND is willing to 'run the show' please send me the concept in writing and 'QuintadosVales' and 'KHSculptorGroup' will seriously consider everything that can be self financed and has interesting connections to art and culture. I am making this offer to our Portuguese neighbors but also to the foreign residents here in the Algarve (our commercial fees for the use of our Sala de Prova and other areas of the Quinta do not apply to these activities; we just require cost covering).

If you want to see some other places where we exhibit our sculptures and present our wine:

- since March 6th until Summer 2010 Benamor Golf, Tavira (22 sculptures)
- March 24th to 28th Forum Algarve, Faro (around 40 sculptures)
- March 25th BMW Faro (selected sculptures)
- April 25th until end of May, new access road to down town Albufeira (around 50 sculptures)

With best regards,
Karl Heinz Stock and the team of QuintadosVales

PS: we have put together a small video of the event and put it on YouTube. You might find yourself in it as well.
View it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgBK3cCr8F0.