Just back from a great week in Portugal. Got a lot of good suggestions from this board, so will share this for potential future use.
My wife and I flew into Lisbon, landed around 10:30 a.m. and Ubered immediately to the Oriente Train Station for the high-speed train to Porto that left at 12:20. Customs and baggage claim was no problem, and we made it with a solid half hour to spare. The train was very cool, but the combination of no sleep, high-speed and riding facing backwards had me feeling a little green behind the gills, and I was glad to step off. We got off at the train station in Gaia and took a 10 minute Uber to our first night hotel in Porto, the Descobertas Boutique Hotel, a small hotel just off the Porto river front.
Dead tired at this point, but was able to make a 5 p.m. dinner reservation at Casario, a nice restaurant on the Ribeira. Food was excellent and service great. Owned by the Gran Cruz port people, so the wines were all from just a few brands. Glasses of Quinta de Ventozela Loci were very good, though.
Rested, we made our way the next day to an e-bike tour through Blue Dragon Bikes. About 3 hours with 10 people riding bikes through the city. This, to me, was an excellent way to check the boxes on all of the major tour book tourist spots while having the fun of a bike and not being beholden to a giant tour or a hop-on, hop-off bus. Very entertaining and personable tour guide.
We spent the afternoon across the river in Gaia, visiting Quevedo and then Graham’s. Quevedo is a smaller family owned producer, and after a 20 minute wait we were able to get a table and order their premium port flight. Tasty stuff–the waiter was kind enough to pour a glass of 1974 colheita for us to try, and when we asked about the gins he set up a flight of those, too. Bought a bottle of port-barrel rested gin and a 2013 VP, my son’s birth year.
Walked up the hill to Graham’s, which was bumping with people. No space for an organized tasting, so went to the bar and ordered a couple of glasses. The port of the week was forgettable, but I thought the 2012 Quinta Dos Malvedos tasted great. I have no sense of how port geeks would rank such a thing.
Walked home to the hotel, prepped for dinner, and walked to get a cocktail at a new-ish cocktail bar I had read about, Flor. Cool space and love to try someone’s experimental cocktails, but our two drinks read better on the page than in the glass. I’d try them again, though. Dinner at the very excellent Mito. Highlights were bread with spreads and the carrots, which tasted not unlike bacon. A bottle of Soalheira Granit for 26 euros was the perfect accompaniment.
And that was a wrap for Porto. Cool place and very vibrant. I should not have been surprised, but I was not prepared for the number of Americans. If you’re in the port houses or restaurants even tangentially in the tourist zones, you are surrounded by Americans. The place was thronged on a weekend in shoulder season, can’t imagine what it’s like in August. I’m self-aware enough to realize I am also one of those tourists, but still not something I’ve experienced in European travel.
The next morning, we Ubered to the Porto airport and grabbed a rental car, and made our way to the Douro Valley. I was interested in finding a quality vinho verde region producer en route, and found a gem in Sem Igual. Working primarily with arinto and azal, they make a range of wines, including an orange wine and a pet nat, and the husband and wife owners walked us through their offerings to get a sense of what we might be interested in tasting. We settled on a few whites and a rose, including a 2016 and 2019 of a flagship blend so we could note the aging curve. This was a great stop. Passionate people making unique wines of a very high quality. If you are traveling from Porto to the Douro Valley, check them out. We left with an old vine bottle that had a decent amount of wood involved, and a classic style, but “natural” lightly fizzy vinho verde. Opposite ends of the spectrum and both very good.
First stop in the Douro was Pinhao, where we parked and stretched our legs for a few minutes. Then, made our way back toward Regua for a tasting at Vieira de Sousa. Unfortunately, they had overlooked my reservation and scheduled a private tour and tasting at the same time, so my wife and I were basically served our flights and left alone for 30 minutes. The proprietor was apologetic and it was an honest mistake and we didn’t make a peep of complaint, but not a great tasting experience. Still, the fortified wines were very good and we left with a bottle of 10 year white port.
After that we made our way to our small inn, the Quinta Do Bosque just outside the small community of Mesao Frio. The one thing everyone says about driving the Douro is not to underestimate the time between distances, so of course I did just that, planning on two dinners in Regua, which was a mere 6 miles or so from our inn. I failed to recognize that these would be six white knuckle miles with opportunities to scrape the side of my rental car at nearly every turn, so when the inn offered dinner of app/soup/main/dessert each night at $35 per person, it was an absolute no-brainer. The wines on offer were all from the local co-op down the hill, so my expectations were measured, but they were all enjoyable to drink. Quinta Do Bosque is an absolute gem. Incredible rooms, views, common areas, food and maybe the friendliest innkeeps I’ve ever met. All for well under $200/nt. I would come back to Portugal just stay here and chill out for a few days.
Our second day in the Douro started with a tasting at Quinta do Mourao, where Rita, one of the family members, told us to hop in her car with her beagle riding shotguns as she took us up the hill to “Port Knox,” where their ancient stashes of port are kept. She took us through some tasting options, including a variety of very old ports, and asked us what we wanted spent. I suggested 50 euros per person, and she poured us four ports and one very old specimen, a 1927 colheita which is on the price list for 1,900 euros a bottle. All the ports were superb and obviously it’s an absolute blast to be in an ancient port cellar with Beagle rummaging around in the cobwebs. After the tasting, Rita said not to feel any pressure to buy any of the more expensive bottles (not that I am a candidate for the 1927 port), and noted that the 10 year old tawny, one of the cheapest bottles, was excellent. Bought that and the 10 year old white we had tried. Cool stop and obviously night and day from the corporate port facilities.
Later this day, we rented e-bikes from Go-On Bikes and had a self-directed, GPS directed amble through the hills for a couple hours. Awesome experience.
The next day, we made our way south of the Douro into the Dao, and made it to Textura wines, on the western flank of the Serra Estrella mountains by 11 a.m. This is a relatively young company focused on low intervention winemaking and mostly field blends. Marco gave us a tour through a busy winery as harvest was wrapping up, and then we tasted through about 7-8 wines in the tasting room. Very tasty and interesting stuff across the board. The whites seemed to clock in at 12.5% and the reds at 13%. All had structure and ample fruit and seemed like they’d be really compelling with age. Marco repeatedly described them as gastronomic, and they did seem like they’d be well suited to the dinner table. Bought two red field blends here. Great stop in the Dao.
We were sleeping in Covilha this day, so we made our way on a beautiful drive across the Serra Estrella Mountains, stopping for a hike at an elevated walkway through the hills on the Mondego Walkways, before stopping off in the mountain town of Guarda, as I wanted to check out the wines of the Beira Interior information center. I was hoping the tourism center would have tasting, but while they have plans for a tasting machine, right now it was just a very friendly host and a ton of bottles from area vineyards. If you ever start thinking you maybe know a bit about a wine, let someone tell you about the wines of the Beira Interior for awhile to remind you of how little you know. Would have loved to have tasted a bunch of these; instead, left with a single bottle of rufete that came highly recommended.
In Covilha, on the eastern slope of the mountain range, we checked into the Pousada Serra Estrella, a gorgeous historic building just outside of town. Sprang for the presidential suite at $240 or so and it was a beautiful room. Dinner in Covilha was at Casa Das Muralhas, which was excellent and had a great wine list. The enthusiastic somm/general manager was eager to talk to anyone who would listen about his wines—I had my heart set on a rose form Madeira, which was good, but in hindsight should have ordered something local. I chose Covilha because I wanted a halfway point between the Douro and Evora, and Covilha seemed to have multiple good restaurants and a nice hotel. Turned out to be a great stop and a reminder that just because a town isn’t heavily covered in the major guidebooks doesn’t mean it isn’t worth exploration.
Our final night was back on the tourist train in Evora, but first a stop in the Alentejo at Adega Monte Branco for a tour and tasting. Nice wines here and a friendly guide. I booked this on winetourism.com, fwiw, and it was seamless. Left with their higher end red and white of the Luis Louro bottling, which we didn’t taste, but I figured if the entry-level stuff was very good, the higher-end bottles were probably worth it. (Our tour guide endorsed this approach.)
Then, an afternoon ambling around Evora, which was busy but charming. Lots of preserved Roman ruins and other historical landmarks. My wife appreciated the small boutiques lining the streets off the main square. Stayed at the truly spectacular Convento do Espinheiro right outside of town, and ubered back and forth for dinner at Origens, a small restaurant serving cheffy Alentejo cuisine and local wines. Paid 24 euros a piece for three glasses of the somm’s pairing, and it was all good. A white tempranillo/aragonez with cured ham was particularly nice.
And then back to Lisbon to fly home with my Wine Check full.
Overall, a great week. Very nice hotels averaged 200 Euros a night. Exceptional dinners with wine averaged 100 Euros for two. Everyone working at anything tourist-facing very warm and accommodating. Saw a lot of the country but didn’t feel rushed. I would not have changed a thing and am eager to return. Thanks to everyone on this board who offered good advice. Portugal experts can tell me what I got wrong above! Next time, I’ll remember that it takes forever to get anywhere in the Douro.
