Pass the Porto

I’ve had a fondness for Portuguese wines for years. Port at Christmas is one of my earliest wine memories as my dad has always opened a bottle of vintage port over the festive period. A warming sip of sweetness was a treat that he always wanted to share and the whole experience of opening, decanting and sipping the small glasses fascinated me from a young age.

And then trying local wines made from grapes I’d never heard of on various trips to Portugal as an adult has been an education too. I always look out for big fruity reds and effervescent vinho verdes on the shelves in the UK as they often represent brilliant value for money. So when we plumped for Porto as a destination for our latest wine adventure, I knew we’d be in for a treat. My dad, my brother, brother-in-law and I spent four nights there in March. I’d hoped we would have caught some early spring sunshine. I should have taken waders with me instead!

We based ourselves in Porto – the capital of the ‘Port region’ and explored the Douro Valley and the wine lists of the city. It was a different type of wine trip for us as we were based in one place. Previous years have seen us travel many miles and explore different parts of France on mini (and not so mini) road trips. While I’d have loved to have travelled up to vinho verde country or down to the Dao region, staying in one place had more than enough upsides. We had one place to dry out our sodden clothes (which at one point I’d draped across the heaters and clothes rails). But the main benefit was that we could explore more of Porto’s amazing food offerings. There were so many amazing places to eat and we explored markets, restaurants, wine bars and food halls. You’ll fine amazing food everywhere you look in Porto, but if you want my recommendations look up Bolhao Market, Za in Porto, Diu Palace, Pedro Dos Frangos and you have to try the pork from O Léitão do Zé.

We spent a long day visiting the heart of port production by travelling up river by train to the pretty little town of Pinhao. The journey was amazing as the train hugged the banks of the Douro and the steep terraces provided breathtaking views.

One of the most fantastic train journeys

We mis-timed our arrival as everything soon shut down for a couple of hours shortly after we got there. We wandered around the quiet town and tasted some wines at the Quinta Do Noval shop, which did remain open. We had an interesting conversation with the woman who served us about the variety of wines produced in the Douro and how under the radar Portuguese dry wines are in England.

We then visited Qunita do Bomfim, which was the main reason for our visit. It’s a well-known winery with a rich history. We toured the estate and saw the lagares where grapes are now ‘trodden’ by machines. We saw the barrels and learned about the history of the region.

State of the art port processing

The rain even eased up for about 20 minutes while we enjoyed a tasting of some of their popular ports. The absolute highlight of our trip up river though was a visit to a small butchers where we bought meat, cheese and bread for the two and a half hour journey back to Porto. The couple running Talho Qualifer - Quinta das Barrocas (as the internet tells me it’s called) were so lovely. We tried everything before we bought and they served us a little snifter of white port in small tin cups, which was such a wonderful touch. We bought far more than we needed but the journey back to Porto was fabulous – aided by a couple of bottles of wine we picked up near the station.

The best customer service ever!

In terms of port, we kept if fairly simple. Over the years we’ve all been spoiled by my dad’s generosity. We’ve had vintage port from the 1960s all the way through to the 2000s over recent years so we didn’t think we needed to splash out on anything too special while we were in Porto. We tried six or seven ports in total, both ruby and tawny. They were all really good and one of my fondest memories of the trip is the afternoon we spent in a food hall in Vila Nova de Gaia – the city’s port district – sharing a bottle of port, playing cards and generally talking rubbish. It reminded me what I’ve always known – that port isn’t just for Christmas!

One of the best things about our trips is, because there are four of us, it makes it easier to try lots of wines by the bottle. Over the four days I think we tried something like 30 different wines. We tried sparkling wine, reds, whites, different types of ports and all of them were reasonably priced. We could have spent a fortune on vintage ports or some of the top wines from the more exclusive estates, but we were so spoiled for choice that we only scratched the surface of what was on offer in just the Douro. What was surprising was the complexity of some of the wines, which really didn’t cost very much. We found perfect little wine bars in the Ribeira district that served fantastic local bottles for a fraction of what you’d pay for standard plonk in UK bars.

The people of Porto really take pride in their wine culture and when we asked for recommendations they were more than happy to share their favourites.

When I run tastings people often ask me where to go for good value wine and I always mention Portugal (alongside Chile and South Africa). The problem we have in the UK is access to the different wines that Portugal has to offer. We tend to get rich, fruity and fairly simple reds in our supermarkets. We also get refreshing and slightly fizzy vinho verde as well. For cheap and easy drinking wines you can’t really go that wrong with these. But I would love to see some of the more complex wines we tried in Porto make their way over here. Even with tax and duty, they’d be an absolute steal.

So, if I’ve whetted your appetite for a trip to Porto – you should go as soon as you can. Make sure you take your raincoat (and a spare pair of shoes) if you’re going in spring. Make sure you ask whoever is serving to recommend a wine. And make sure you leave enough room for amazing food to go with it.

Saúde.

p.s        

I started writing this post at the end of March but (as has become a bad habit) it’s taken me ages to post. And over the last couple of months, I’ve noticed a big push of Portuguese wines. A lot of the marketing has talked about how ‘under the radar’ the country is as a wine producer. I can’t say ‘I told you so’ because I hadn’t told you. But it underlines what I’ve believed for a long time. The Wine Society’s latest mailshot included a look at Portugal (and Greece) and some of the wines look fantastic, with far more variety than just the usual UK supermarket fare. A lot of the ‘influencers’ I follow on Instagram have also turned their attention to Portugal in the last couple of months – which is good to note too. So take a punt on a Portuguese wine next time you see one. I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed.