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Published: December 21st 2016
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Bom Dia,
I like wine. All wine. It is delicious. So when I had the opportunity to visit the Alto Douro, the world's oldest continuously demarcated win region, having been demarcated in 1756! I did not want to take the train, so I joined with a tour that was going by minivan as this would give me an opportunity to see more of the Alto Douro.
The first stop was the gorgeous town of Amarante, with its stone buildings and medieval bridge. There was not a lot of things to see or do in town, and it was a brief stop, but it was very peaceful and incredibly picturesque!
We continued to drive along the road through the hills and valleys of northern Portugal, over a bridge that was very similar to the Millau Viaduct in France, until we arrived at Quinta de Portal, a winery located within the Alto Douro. The winery is one of the largest producers in Portugal, something that is clearly evident from its Alvaro Siza Viera-designed vineyard/tasting room. The building is concrete, to keep the wine inside the appropriate temperature, but the base of the outside is made from the schist stone the
vines grow in, and the area above that is made from cork, to mimic the stoppers in wine bottles. The tour of the cellar was interesting, as was looking at oak casks that can hold 50,000 litres of wine. After some delicious samples, and subsequent purchases, we headed towards a viewpoint over the village of Pinhão. From there, it there were sweeping views of the vine-covered, terraced, hills steeply descending to the Douro River below. The views were stunning!
We headed down into the valley and after a lunch stop at a restaurant Pinhão, we boarded a boat for a cruise along the Douro. It was incredibly relaxing, moving along the river and gazing up at the terraced vines on the hillsides. It was also very picturesque, but I almost thinks that goes without saying at this point in time.
When the boat trip ended, we visited Quinta de Bonfim. The property, operated by the Symington family, is one of the better quintas in the region and produces grapes for the Graham's, Warre, and Dow's among others. The building was very pretty, and the tour was interesting, although I was frustrated because we had missed the harvest by
one day! After watching the machines press the grapes, no smiling people with big feet stomping these ones, we enjoyed some samples, and the proceeded to drive back down to the riverbank on our way out of the valley. We continued along gorgeous hillsides and villages until we arrived at a small fruit stand. I was wondering why we were stopping there until I saw the sweeping views of the valley below. The shadows and lighting were perfect, and the views were some of the best we had seen all day. After taking numerous photos, we headed out of the valley and into the hills before descending back to Porto just in time to catch another stunning sunset.
Things I learned in the Alto Douro:
- Portuguese wine is both affordable and underrated!
- Not surprisingly, the countryside is as hilly as the cities are.
- Ferdinand Magellan came from a small, inland town, in the mountains of northern Portugal, and yet still managed to have the desire sail around the world.
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