On the 24th of January 2024, I broke my 12 o’clock rule and drank before midday. I thought going to the most famous wine region in Portugal was a good enough excuse. Then again, apparently Portugal is made up of 18 regions and 14 of them produce wine but hey, who’s counting?
Douro Valley is a bit like Ramsey, on the Isle of Man, in that it has its own microclimate due to a nearby mountain. While it’s always sunny in Ramsey, the Douro Valley apparently has 9 months of winter and 3 months of hell. I have to say, when I visited, it didn’t exactly feel cold by Manx standards but they did have the most amazing mists until around 11am.

As you travel through the region you’ll notice lines of olive trees and the occasional rose bush. Olive trees are used to separate the different territories between each quinta (farm) and the rose bushes pick up on any encroaching disease.

The hills are also covered in magic stones (one of my favourite terms from high school geography), that were originally introduced here by the Romans and help to prevent the erosion of land as well as expanding the available surface area. They are probably better known as terraces or something similar.

If any of you know about Port (and I know that at least one of you definitely enjoys it) then you probably already know that Douro is renowned for its Port Wine.

The Origins of Port

Port was discovered in the area by accident in the 12th century and, as ever, it was by some monks. The monks were trying to preserve wine as their precious supplies kept turning vinegary. They added some brandy, not knowing that this would stop the fermentation process. That is why Port Wine tastes so sweet: it is usually only fermented for about 2 days. It used to be known as ‘Noble Wine’ because it was only given to people of high standing, such as kings and queens.
Okay, ‘so how did Port Wine get its current name’, you ask. In the 17th century, an agreement was made between England and Portugal. Portugal would ship their wine from Porto in exchange for fine fabrics that the English would produce for them. The English then took this literally and called it Port Wine because of where it was shipped from, even though it wasn’t actually produced there. Nowadays, if you look at the bottles, a lot of them have English names because of this. It also means that no other country is allowed to use the title, they have to use phrases such as ‘fortified wine’ or ‘sweet wine’ when they produce it, a bit like champagne can only be produced from Champagne.

Types of Port

There are currently four types of Port Wine:

• Ruby – Will have been kept in the barrel for about 3 years. As it is a younger port it retains the colour of a regular red wine.
• Tawny – Will have been kept in smaller barrels for about 4 years. Its prolonged contact with the wood means it’s lost more sugar and is, therefore, less sweet than a Ruby. The increased level of oxidation reduces the saturation of its colour and makes it lighter.
• White – produced using white grapes. It is a dry, sweet wine that can be used to make cocktails eg. a Porto Tonic, which is white port with tonic. I had one of these at my tile painting session!
• Rosé – also uses white grapes and was discovered in 2007.

The white and rosé port wines are not produced every year as higher levels of rainfall are needed.

Time is Money

Port will still keep improving after it has been bottled and that is why the price will keep rising. It is customary to give the gift of a Vintage Port upon the birth of a child. This bottle will often be kept for 18 years so that the family can enjoy it together then. In order to make sure that the port is kept in the best possible condition, it is kept on its side to stop air entering through the cork and thus spoiling it. It also stops the cork from drying out and crumbling into the bottle.
Below is a fine example of an old Port with grapes from 1888. The bottle itself is worth 4500 EUR and comes in a fancy wooden case with a decanter. If you don’t fancy spending that much money then you can get a taster tube instead (multiple are held within the yellow container you see in the below picture) for 250 EUR.

The Douro River

We finished off with a lovely boat ride along the Douro River. It took us underneath a bridge designed by the person who invented the Eiffel Tower.

I had lots of fun on this trip and made a few friends along the way. One of them I teased about the sharks that they were convinced had somehow made it past all of the dams and up the river. This did, however, distract them from the very real possibility of other creatures which might have come for us nearby. I could hear one of the boatmen telling stories about the giant boars that attack the vineyard owners. We didn’t see anything with sharp teeth or tusks though, just lovely calm waters:

Would I recommend this trip? Yes, I would. It was well worth the early morning start and it also turned out that we ate lunch in a Michelin Restaurant. I only got a picture of the desert though.

If anyone is ever visiting anywhere and would like to know who to book with for any of the activities that I have done then please feel free to contact me via the ‘Suggest a Place‘ form. This particular activity can be found here.