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Following your dreams can be harder than you expect, as Jerry and Carolee Luper found when they moved to the Douro, Portugal’s best known wine region, to run their own small vineyard and winemaking business.
Producing a quality wine was not a problem — Jerry Luper helped put California’s Napa Valley wines on the map in the 1970s. But settling in a country with very different customs and culture is always a challenge. The bureaucracy, poor public services and a shortage of skilled workers made the Lupers’ business a lot more complicated than they had imagined, they said, especially as much of Mr. Luper’s time is spent on his full-time job as technical director at Real Companhia Velha, one of Portugal’s oldest winemakers.
So the couple, who are in their 60s, have put their estate on the market for 1.5 million euros ($2 million) and, after a decade in the region, will move closer to Oporto, where Mr. Luper’s job is based and they already have an apartment.
“If I was 40, we would probably stay, but it is hard as we do most of the winemaking business ourselves,” Mr. Luper said. “At the beginning we were able to do all the work, but now we can’t. The problem is getting people to work here.” The Lupers are not the only ones to face such problems, as many Portuguese are leaving the country’s rural areas for better paying jobs in its cities.
The couple say they are sad to be giving up what Mrs. Luper describes as “a romantic dream” but admit that they no longer have the energy or fitness needed to maintain the vineyard and the 1.7 hectares (more than 4 acres) of vines that cover a large part of the 4.5-hectare (11-acre) property.
Perched on a steep hill in the heart of the Douro region, the Quinta da Carolina, named for Mrs. Luper, has views of the Douro River as it meanders through distant mountains and terraced hills. The landscape has been shaped by winemaking activities for 2,000 years. In 2001, Unesco declared it a World Heritage Site.
In 1993 the Lupers came to Europe from California, looking for a different life. Mr. Luper had worked at several Napa vineyards, including Diamond Creek, Freemark Abbey and Montelena, but he felt the valley was getting too crowded and losing its original character as a winemaking community.
After spending a short time in Slovakia, they moved to Portugal so Mr. Luper could take a job in Lisbon with a local winemaker. In 1996, he began helping Real Companhia Velha to improve its wine production and was appointed its full-time technical director in 1998.
The Lupers fell in love with the Douro region. “We knew the wine areas in Europe and we liked them, but we came here and we thought it was spectacular,” Mrs. Luper said.
Finding the right property proved to be a major challenge, taking time, patience and determination. Mr. Luper wanted to make his own wine so they needed a place near a main road, for easy access, and with outbuildings that could be used for their work.
The Lupers say the search was a hit-or-miss affair. Homes with working vineyards were hard to find. Local real estate agents were not very helpful, so they moved into the area to do their own research. |
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