Immersed Experience

It's the world's first designated wine region.

Only wines that come from this region of the Douro Valley can be called port wine. Everything else is just fortified.

DW and I were up before dawn. We were showered, dressed, and ready to leave our inn by 5:30. We wanted to catch the first train, just after 6:00, to the Douro Valley and hit our first town before the crowds descended on the region.

We caught a train at São Bento Station and transferred onto another at Campanha Station. We had learned, through watching YouTube videos, that the best side of the train to sit on and get the best views of the Douro River are the right side of the train, which is what we did. We could even open our window to have clearer views.

We passed the small town of Peso da Régua, where we planned to be in the afternoon, and continued on to another town, about a half hour further up the Douro, called Pinhão. We pulled into the station about a quarter to nine.

First order of business was breakfast. We found a spot at Princesa do Douro and ordered two large lattes and two pastéis de natas. They weren't as good as those from Manteigaria but they hit the spot. We saw this café fill up quickly and decided to make our way to the port wine house that we had researched.

Back out on the main street, tourist buses were rolling through and we could see a large group of similarly dressed Germans marching ahead of us, toward the bridge that crosses the Douro. We feared that they were headed to the same quinta as us but were relieved when they turned before the bridge in a different direction.

Directly across the bridge was our destination, Quinta das Carvalhas. We arrived just as they opened, at 10:00. This quinta typically offers a shuttle service around their vineyards, except on Mondays. We already knew this but they also offered a hiking trail to let you roam the hills and vines on your own. For 10 euros per person, you're given a map of the trail and then shown to the trailhead. That's it: you're on your own. Just follow the green arrows and you'll be fine.

The reward for completing the tour is two glasses of their wine, but in retrospect, we should have received a bottle.

The trail climbs upward, through switchbacks and working its way to the other side of the steep hill before winding its way back down the valley and to the wine house. The views were breathtaking.

It took us a little more than three hours and covered more than 20 kilometres (maybe 23?). Because the trail took far longer than we had planned, we only had time to scarf down our glasses of port—an LBV and a ruby—before rushing to the train station to catch our next train.

The ruby, by the way, was outstanding.

Our train took us back to Peso da Régua, where we decided to have lunch and dry out (we were soaked through with sweat after our hike). Near the station was a highly recommended restaurant, called Locomotiva Wine & Gourmet. It was very nice and the food was great. I had a baked cod dish and DW had a vegetarian burger, sans bun.

It was exactly what we needed (except for the Brussel sprouts).

After lunch, we tried to order an Uber to get across the Douro and to our next quinta, for which we had signed up for a special tour. But every time we had a driver set up, they would cancel on us. After three times of being ghosted, we walked back to the train station and ordered a taxi. It only cost about seven euro, including a small tip.

Our tour was with Quinta da Pacheca, a small winery that has been in production since 1738 and the first quinta to be run by a woman. Our guide for the afternoon was a young man named Eduardo, who reminded DW and me a bit like a young Fred Armisen, minus the glasses. He was very knowledgeable about the wines and the estate, and when he asked us questions about our style preferences, he was able to recommend some perfect port wines to sip after the tour.

But more about the tour.

Eduardo started by explaining the history of the winery, how the founder had passed away at an early age and that his wife had held onto the estates and ran it, herself. Pacheca is the feminine form of the name Pacheco and is named after Mariana Pacheco Pereira, who renamed the winery when she took charge of it.

After Eduardo explained the quinta's history, he produced four bottles of port that it produces today. We started with a dry white port that was crisp and palate-cleansing. I found it had a better flavour than the Chip Dry that we were served after our Taylor's tour, the day before. This wine would pair excellently with seafood.

Our second wine was an old-vines vintage red wine from 2020, which held great notes of ripe berries with a hint of sweetness. It was a lovely. This wine was followed by a 10-year-old tawny that had rich caramel flavours and was my favourite of the samples, but the final port wine, a Late Bottled Vintage, was fruity and powerful.

We were well fortified by the end of the tasting to continue with the second and most-exciting part of the tour, the grape stomp.

Because it was harvest time, production was well under way. The grapes had been harvested from the vines and destemmed, and the next part was the crushing to extract the juices. Pacheca uses the time-honoured tradition of placing the grapes in a concrete pool and having people stomp on them with their feet.

Both staff and visitors took part in the stomp: employees would link arms and be methodical as they moved around the pool, and would sing songs of the harvest. In the pools with tourists, it was basically a free-for-all but there was a supervisor in the pool with us, who made sure there was no tomfoolery and he sang in order to create a rhythm to which we would stomp.

See for yourself.

The sensation was soothing on my feet. In some pockets, the juice would be cool; in others, you could feel some warmth as the fermentation process was already beginning. We stomped for about 20 minutes or so before we stepped out, rinsed our legs and feet, and changed back into our pants and shoes (they had provided us with shorts and a towel).

After the tour, DW and I lingered in their shop, where Eduardo gave us t-shirts to commemorate our visit. We also treated ourselves to a couple of glasses of very special port: their 20-year-old tawny and a sweet, white port that is now my favourite of the fortified wines.

We wanted to buy a couple of bottles, but we were just at the beginning of our vacation and we didn't want to risk travelling with glass bottles in our suitcases, especially because we were scheduled to fly the next day. We took a risk that we'd be able to find the wine in Lisbon, and would purchase it before our final flight, home.

We watched the sun set over the vineyards before we tried to order an Uber, but we had the same issue in finding a driver and finally asked Eduardo to order a taxi for us.

We caught the last train to Porto and ended up at our inn after midnight. It was going to be a very short night for us, as we had to be at the airport by 6:00 and we still had to pack. And we were exhausted: by midnight, we had walked more than 26 kilometres and had climbed the equivalent of more than 80 flights of stairs.

How did we fare the next day? Find out, next week.