Portugal 2015: Douro Valley wine tasting

Most of our travels revolve around wine and food, so we've been to more than a few wine regions; Italy, Spain, France, Croitia and of course California, Oregon and Wahington. I will go on record saying, the Douro Valley is the most picturesque. The hills are so steep leading down to the river, it creates some spectacular views. This steepness adds to a uniqueness of the region, they can't get machinery into many places, so the grapes are all hand picked. In addition to hand picking, some still stomp the grapes, or use these concrete vats called Lagos, for the first days of fermentation instead of going straight into the steel vats.

The temperatures swing from very hot summers to very cold winters. They say the grapes don't swing as dramatically because of the slate in the soil. Slate is every where, I'm so jealous of their abundance of this material, it's beautiful. They use it not only for floors, but stairs, sidewalks and the walls to terrace the vineyards.

Another uniqueness in this wine region is the variety of the grapes. Some of the old vine vineyards have more than 40 different grape varieties in one plot. They are still classifying many of theses. Even the vineyards newly planted have 3 to 5 varietals. So almost all of the wines from this area are blends which adds complexity and some softness. We didn't taste many that were highly tannic.

Of course they have been using the grapes from this region to make Port for hundreds of years. They've always transported the grapes to Porto and all of the winemakers have their tasting rooms there. However over the last 10 to 20 years, many are now starting to focus on great "table" wines.

We visited;

Quinta do Crasto

Wine and Soul

Quinta Vale Dona Maria

Quinta do Portal

Quinta da la Rosa

Ordered by my favorite wines, but Portal had wonderful food in a lovely setting. If you are looking to try a wine from Portugal, look for a 2011, it was their very best vintage year.

Views from Quinta do Crasto