Port tastings and vineyard tours was another request made by our visitors and Pinhão, a gorgeous village in the Douro Valley about 80 miles from Porto, is one of the best places to indulge in this endeavour. In Oregon we frequented many a vineyard, and were long term wine club members with more than one winery. We adore bubbles, nice crisp white wines, and a large variety of red wines. Port, on the other hand, was not well loved by either of us. Whenever a bottle of port would be included in our wine club installments, we would either gift it, make sauce for a steak, or occasionally use it as an ingredient in a cocktail. When we arrived in Portugal, everyone insisted we try it again, it is an extremely common digestif here. Much to our surprise our opinions rapidly changed once we started drinking port in the country of origination. It was a totally different experience. Even reasonably priced bottles of port are well worth it, not to mention the marvel of some of the aged and vintage port options. We now have a “go-to” favorite port and purchase extra bottles when it goes on sale. Drinking port is a dangerous undertaking because when we open a bottle of our favorite, it may not survive until the next day.

The Douro Valley is stunning with breathtaking views of terraced hills, vineyards, and small villages throughout. It is hard not to contrast it with the Applegate Valley in Oregon which we were very familiar with by the time we moved. Oregon’s hills are still covered in old growth forest with modern vineyards (and marijuana farms) nestled in various nooks and crannies; the Douro region has been producing wine for over 2000 years and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it lives and breaths port wine production.

We stayed at Quinta de La Rosa, an active vineyard which has been producing port and owned by a single family since 1815. We enjoyed a lovely meal at the on site restaurant and the accommodations were comfortable. There was an unexpected hike over horribly inhospitable stones to get to our room, I think anyone with mobility issues would struggle carrying luggage over the 1/4 mile trek.

Our second day in the region was filled with a tour, port tasting, and an on site picnic at Quinta da Roêda where a large variety of ports and brandy products (under the Croft label) are produced. To make port the fermentation process that wine normally goes through is interrupted when the winemakers add brandy to the grapes, the brandy increases the alcohol content and the wine grapes preserve more of their natural sweetness in the final product. The tour was fact filled and definitely worth it!

Next up we enjoyed a port and beverage tasting. It was A LOT of alcohol. They offered multiple different flights and our group of four mixed it up so we could talk about and compare the full variety of ports (the main differences being length and method of the aging process).

After our excessive alcohol session, we were given 2 massive baskets, more wine and a map and sent off to find a lunch location. We choose a remote table with a river view. The picnic was abundant, we had more food than we could possibly eat over 2 days! Unfortunately things got very windy and after a short time we hiked back to a more sheltered (and crowded) picnic area to finish our meal. We ended up taking some silly shots near their photo/advertising booth for the new Croft Pink (a horrible canned drink the vineyard was really trying to trick people into drinking).

If you want to spend a few days living inside a pastoral postcard you can’t go wrong with the Douro Valley – and easy access to a nearly unlimited variety of port wine doesn’t hurt either. We didn’t have enough time to do any of the many day hikes available in the area but both of us did feel a longing for green hills and vineyards.