Sometime within the last year, I started seeing Experiences offered on AirBnB but have never tried any so we thought we would give it a go on this trip. We signed up for Wine Ventures and Sailing in the Douro Valley with Bruno and Ricardo. Again our buddy Rui picked us up and took us to Praça da Liberdade to meet up for our tour.
The tour was very popular today as 14 of us signed up. So Bruno and Ricardo split the group and we definitely got the fun party crowd as we had a blast today! Our group consisted of 2 super fun and nice couples from India (I didn’t get them to write down their names so I don’t want mess them up by attempting to spell them), two ladies that were a bit “more mature” than Julie and me but we decided we wanted to be traveling like Barb and Sandy when we get to be their age and of course Julie and me. We had a flashback to a similar small tour we took in Normandy when we got in the van and found out our other 4 travelers were from Charleston and knew some friends as today one of the guys from India actually went to Coast Carolina University and played tennis! It is indeed a small world.
After about an hour and half drive, we arrived at Quinta da Foz (fosh) for a very technical but fun tour by Cristino. In addition to Port, they produce red and white wines at the entry level and premium level. All grapes regardless of the level of wine are hand picked! Also, all wines will follow the same initial first steps after the grapes are picked...they will be placed on the sorting table, go through the crusher and the stemmer.
If the wines will make a premium wine, they will be placed in these tubs where they will be crushed by foot in the traditional method and then transferred to barrels for aging.
If the wines will make an entry level wine, they will be placed in this big mechanical tub and crushed by the machine and then transferred to barrels for aging.
Some other sites from the Quinta da Foz:
After the tour, of course there was a tasting. We tried a white and red and some of their olive oil. Most of the vineyards in Portugal also produce an olive oil as it is a staple in the valley and a main ingredient in many dishes. To properly taste olive oil, you simply dip your finger in the dish and taste without bread. Most definitely one of the best olive oils I’ve tasted. For our Port tasting, we had a Ruby port which was light and fruity. This was the first time I have tried a Ruby and it was really quite nice...so much so we bought a bottle for the rest of our stay while in Portugal.
Next on our tour was an hour on the Douro River with Mara and Pasquale. While on the boat, we were treated to a Port Tonic, some goat and cow cheeses, local ham, sausage and chicken pate. The Douro Valley is an UNESCO Heritage Site for its terraced vineyards. Wine has been produced in this region for over 2,000 years. The climate is ideal for growing both the grapes and olive trees. Honey is also produced in the valley and has a more unique flavor as the bees collect the flavors from all the vines and trees in the valley.
After hour boat ride, we headed to the family vineyard of Quinta da Bucheria where the 8th generation of the family is currently running the show...with the 9th generation due in February. At Bucheria, we had a fabulous traditional Portuguese lunch with each course paired with one of their wines. Bucheria only produces 300,000 bottles of wine a year of the finest qualities. We had a sparkling wine with the appetizer of salami, cheese from the Azores (islands off the cost of Portugal) and olives (again to my surprise, I liked them). Our first course was a puréed vegetable soup paired with a white wine. For our entree, we had a traditional hearty dish with pasta and meats as the workers have to eat a sturdy meal for the tough work they do daily...this course was paired with a wonderful red. For dessert, we were served a special custard-like cake that is traditionally served at Christmas and it was paired with a moscato. Somehow we ended up buying a bottle of the moscato for the remainder of our stay in Portugal (we have to help a small family business after all).
No where in the tour description did it mention what we able to do next…actually stomp the grapes! As this was something on our bucket lists there was no way we were going to pass this up. My only concern was my pants might not be able to come up high enough so I had Julie get in first and to my delight, it was not too deep for me so in I went. Being a big texture person, it was defintely an interesting experience and feeling the grapes squish under feet was quite different. While we all had fun stomping around, I doubt we had much of an impact on the three hour daily stomping required for the fermentation process. This one part of the tour was worth the entire price of admission!
After all our “hard work” at Bucheria, it was time to head back to Porto. We returned to our original meeting point and said our good-byes to our new friends before heading back across the river to Gaia to our apartment. While it is sometimes nice to be in the middle of the action, we are truly enjoying being in a residential area as it is much more relaxed and as an added bennie, our dinner which comprised of a take away cheese and meat (we think there was some pepperoni and some sort of pork…it was good so we don’t really care what it was), pastel da nata, chips and a drink was about $4 each compared to the $10-$12 it would have probably cost in city center.
Another great day in Porto and now time for rest.
Até logo (see you later)
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