The stunning views of the vineyards on the steep hills overlooking the Douro River

It is incredible to see the hilly vineyards! Some of them are so old (vs. newly planted ones) and it is fascinating to see how built into the hillsides they are. It is truly amazing, and no small task to be able to pick grapes on these steep hills to make such wonderful wines.

The stunning tile and beautiful architecture in the small town we passed through during our day exploration of the Duoro Wine region.

The lovely Residencia dos Barros where I stayed while exploring Douro Wine Country. This is owned by a family and hosts guests in a Boutique Hotel/Bed & Breakfast setting. Although it looks very historic (which it is) the guest accommodations are newly built so have modern luxuries like heat, plumbing, tv…. Most of the residence does not have heat so it’s quite a cool spot (Pack warm sweaters and scarves for this region as it gets chilly in the evening) to stay and see what it was like in the old days in Portugal.

I love the beautiful architecture and smaller vineyard homes and estates we passed on the road

Views of Quinta De La Rosa as we drove along the Douro River Valley.

Sandeman, one of the “Big Five” Port Wineries. I learned that there are five huge brands which dominate the port world and, Sandeman’s is one of them! This is Sandeman’s Douro Winery location.

A cork tree along the road. This region makes a lot of corks!

Just like we’re used to seeing in California the day I visited the Douro there was quite a lot of fog. It really made me feel right at home!

Visit to Porto Reccua Wines

Upon arriving to the winery, the grapes are weighed and sorted here by quality level and grape type

The historic concrete tanks that held the wine while it aged

Some of the wines I tasted during my visit. Read about my entire visit to Porto Reccuo Wines here.

The delicious line up of Port Wines from Porto Reccua. Read my full Porto Reccua Winery blog post here.

Visit to Quinta De Tourais Winery with Winemaker Fernando Coelho

The residence & winery of Quinta de Tourais

The stone pools where the wine is naturally fermented. It’s quite historic, I’ve never seen this type of winemaking in all of my winery visits. This was fascinating. Fernando makes approximately 1,000 cases of wine per year in this winery.  They spend 1.5 hours four times a day stomping the wines in these pools. Talk about some hard manual labor!

The line up of wines I tasted with Winemaker Fernando

Visit to Lavradoes De Feitoria

The lovely tasting I enjoyed with Sara from Lavradores De Feitoria. These were wines that I truly connected with. There were less tricky blends than the majority of the Duoro Wines I experienced (which is typical since most wines have an average of 7+ grapes in them), and these wines were very feminine, balanced, and flavorful. See more below and read my full Lavradores de Feitoria Blog post here.

The lovely Sara who hosted us and shared her amazing knowledge and wines with me and Paulo.

As evident from the variety of wineries I experienced during this visit Douro Portugal is an incredible winemaking region I highly recommend you visit and experience. They make much more than just Port Wines which is probably what you’ve heard most about from the region.