You’ll have a great time wherever you go because going up and down the Douro will likely vie for one of the most visually captivating experiences of your life. That aside, I’d recommend Niepoort, Vallado, and Crasto for tastings, and Noval for lunch at their on-premises restaurant (and might as well taste their wines while you’re there — I thought some of their varietal bottlings were good and particularly educational). Tedo is worth a stop, too — perhaps even moreso, imo, than Crasto (although Crasto offered a delectable cheese and crackers platter to go with the wines, and the pairings did work quite nicely, imo).
We truly enjoyed our eating experiences at Lisbon. Here:
Thanks all for your comments and notes! I will report upon my return.
btw, you will need to make appointments ahead of time. I look forward to reading about your trip!
Having just spent 12 days there, here are some updates/highlights.
Quinta do Tedo: Still rocks to stay at. Great location, nice Ports and wines, and nice people to boot. Highly recommended.
Quinta Nova (d. Senora…something something something): Long name, a bit out of the way next to Quinta do Crasto, but great food, wines, and amazing views. Plus some nice long walking/hiking paths with graet views.
Graham’s Lodge / Vinum Restaurant: In Vila Nova d. Gaia (across the river from Porto). Vinum rocks and worth a night time dinner. Azmazing food, really good diverse and well priced wine list. Not to mention an incredible view of the river, Porto, and Gaia. Book a reservation for sure.
Opaparico restaurant: In Porto. One of the best places to eat. You must have a reservation, there is no sign on the door, and the door is locked. Please knock for entry. Sergio who owns it and his staff will take great care of you. Amazing food and a killer wine list.
Castas e Pratos restaurant: In the Regua (old) train station. Not the same quality as it used to be. The wine list isn’t as good as it was since the fire there. Not sure if this was an off-day, but food quality was way down from previous visits. A shame.
Ran across a new producer, Luis Seabra Vinhos (Luis was the winemaker at Niepoort for many years): He’s only got two whites this year and will have some reds starting next year. The whites, especially the old vine one, was stunning. One of the best Douro whites I’ve ever had and I’ve had a lot of good Douro whites. Keep an eye out for this new producer.
Off the top of my head this covers the major updates and some new finds. I’m sure I missed something, which I will update in due course…read, when the brain recovers, LOL.
[quote=“andy velebil”]Having just spent 12 days there, here are some updates/highlights.
Quinta do Tedo: Still rocks to stay at. Great location, nice Ports and wines, and nice people to boot. Highly recommended…
First, thanks Andy for the report. We arrived back last night after a wonderful flight on Iberian. As we moved north from Portugal to the Galicia area of Spain, we had more rain and cooler temps.
Unfortunately, our timing for a visit to Tebo did not work well. I had the program director of our cruise call ahead and arrange a tasting of red wines for 2 couples at 330pm on a weekday. As we learned in Porto, it was an early harvest this season and most of the grapes came out of the fields one -two weeks earlier. Since we were leaving the boat and doing this on our own, we hired a taxi to take us from Regua, wait for us and then take us further upstream for a Sandeman tour at Quinta do Seixo with the rest of our group. We arrived 10 minutes early and after introducing ourselves, checked the facilities and took in the beautiful views in all directions.
When we returned to the starting point, our “guide” announced that she was going to wait for a few more people what were using the toilets. This was not what we had been let to expect, but it was not a problem for us other than the delay for obvious reasons.
It turned out that the few others we were waiting for were not less than 8 folks on a Grey Line tour. By the time the ports (in our case, 3 red wines) were poured, the group was close to 20. We listed to our guide explain the the ports but she had little time to talk with us. One of the reds had some potential but the other 2 were unremarkable. (when I get unpacked, I will provide more detail). We did end up purchasing a 1995 port she was touting ( for 60 Euros) to the rest of the group and she waived the 5 euro tasting fees. We finished off the Tedo port over 2 chilling and wet days in Santiago de Compostela. We agreed that it was delicious.