It is inevitable to be wow-ed when you come to the Douro Valley. It is one of the world’s most spectacular wine regions. These days they make both excellent “table” wines and the famous fortified port wines.
We are frequent visitors to the Douro Valley. The Douro is one of our most popular travel destinations for our wine tour activity. Many people who come here go to the places with famous names on the front door, the big port houses. They are, of course, very impressive to visit, but what really makes a trip to the Douro Valley special is if you can find those secret places that give you something extra special when you visit.
We have collected eight of the places – wine producers, restaurants and a wine bar – that we recommend that you try and visit. It is places that are personal, special and that will give you a great experience.
But don’t feel as if you should plan your travel itinerary around it. If you miss one or two, it’s not a problem. You’ll catch up on them the next time you come here, because we think that you will want to come back.
(And if you don’t what to plan it all yourself, you can join us at BKWine on a wine tour to the Douro Valley.)
Read more in Britt’s article on Forbes: “8 Reasons To Visit The Dramatic Douro Valley In Portugal”.
Here’s the introduction to the article:
“This wine is called Abandonado”, says Catarina Sousa at Quinta da Gaivosa. “It comes from a very steep, even dangerous, slope of rocky schist soil with vines planted 85 years ago. It was abandoned (hence the name of the wine) for a long time; it was too hard to work.”
Now Domingos Alves de Sousa and his family are again working this plot and they make a stunning wine from it.
The wine producers in the Douro Valley are used to hard work. The steep schist slopes, often terraced, that offer such breath-taking views to the wine tourists mean hard conditions for the workers in the vineyards. Most work has to be done manually, the harvest not least.
To see the spectacular, magnificent landscape is one of the reasons to go to the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. This is definitely one of the most spectacular wine regions in the world. Another reason to go is if you like port wine because this is where it is made. But today the dry Douro wines make up an ever-increasing part of the production. So even if sweet, fortified wines are not your thing you will enjoy it here.
Read more in Britt’s article on Forbes: “8 Reasons To Visit The Dramatic Douro Valley In Portugal”.
