Douro Valley Wine Tour and WOW Workshop

 

Wine Tour

We started off the wine tour in the Vinho Verde (Green wine) area of Portugal, with a visit to Amarante. Amarante is best known for the Peninsula War battle between Portuguese and French troops and is a lovely little village on the bank of the Rio Tâmega.

Amarante is also on the famous Mass of the Pilgrims stop from Porto to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. You can tell by the shells imbedded on the ground.

Church of São Gonçalo still shows damage from the war. 

As we head from the Vinho Verde region into the Douro Valley region the highway is lined with vineyards and olive trees. We went to three different wineries and tried many different types of port. 

The first winery was the best. Port wine is not my favorite wine, but I will admit that the port we tried at this winery was quite good. This winery is over 100 years old and the owner showed us a bottle of port worth more that $4000 (we didn’t taste that one though).

Fun Fact: Not all port is dark or rose colored, white port is quite delicious with tonic water and called Porto Tónico (but can be made with Rose port too).

Many vineyards are separated by olive trees instead of walls. Also, many of the vineyards don't use machinery (they terraces are too narrow) so the grapes are all hand picked. Usually during the late summer when it is really hot in the valley.

Terraced vineyards along the Douro River

Fun Fact: There are three different varieties of olive oil from Portugal and some vineyards will separate their vine varieties with olive trees instead of walls.

World of Wine School (Portuguese wines)

The workshop was over 2 hours and focused on 5 of the 11 wine regions of Portugal. 

My table ready for tasting

By the numbers: Portugal is 11th in the world for wine production (60% of all Port wines come from Portugal), 9th in world export of wine, 4th in Europe and 11th in world wine consumption (inexpensive wine).

Fun Fact: 80% of all cork used in the world comes from Portugal. I’ve not seen one bottle of wine with a screw top, all had corks. And...not just for wine corks, but anything that has cork in it!

Wines in order of the tasting

First region and first taste (after the lovely Rose welcome wine we had), is from Vinho Verde. Green usually means young wine, but not in this instance, it means it comes from a very green area of north Portugal which is colder making the wine more acidic. The taste was dry and aromatic with a long finish.

Climate: Atlantic; Soil, Granitic; #of Vines 24,000

Second taste was from the Baixo region near the border of Spain and Corgo River. This area is completely dependent on rain as it cannot be irrigated due to it being a UNESCO site. It was a red wine blended with 30 varietals, tasted of plum and dark cherry.

Climate: Mediterranean/Continental (hot, hot, hot 45c/113f in the summer); Soil, Black Slate; #of Vines 44,000

The third tasting was from the Dão region, one of the oldest established regions in Portugal. High altitude and sun exposure and very windy area. A white wine that was voted party wine of 2021, smelled to me like a Sauvignon blanc but the finish was more like a Viognier.

Climate: Mediterranean; Soil, Granitic; #of Vines 20,000

Fun fact: The vineyard owners in the Dão region plant roses around the vines so the “critters” will eat the roses first before the vines.

Bairrade is the fourth region with a spicy, blended wine that’s complex. It’s good with meat (especially pork). You really need food with this wine. It was good, but not my favorite. The region is coastal, lower altitude.

Climate: Moderate Atlantic; Soil, Limestone clay; #of Vines 13,000

The fifth region, Alentejo is referred to as “the bread basket of the country”. Very flat area producing mainly full-body red wine with more oxidation and a sour cherry or black fruit finish. The white wine from this area is aged in oak for 12-24 months and bottled for at least 3 years before sold. We had a white Antão Vaz grape wine. It was very, very good.

Climate: Continental (cold winters, hot summers); Soil, Granitic; #of Vines 25,000

How to taste wine

I'm certified!

Here's some street art I thought was interesting in Gaia right near the World of Wine

In other news...

I've rented an apartment in Charlotte, NC for six months starting in December. I should get the paperwork tomorrow so hopefully it will be done soon and I can take a breath. Now I can concentrate on my next adventure to Valencia, Spain this weekend!