The Douro

There are few wine regions, that once visited, leave an impression that stays with you, long after you return home.  For me, anywhere in Italy, South Africa's Western Cape and the starkly beautiful Douro Valley of northern Portugal, come readily to mind.

The Douro is a deep gash in the earth, carved over the millennia by a river that flows from the frontier with Spain, west  to the city of Oporto.  Before the Portuguese government damned the vital waterway, starting in 1968, to provide hydroelectricity, the river raced through the valley, moving barco rabelos, loaded with pipes of new Port wine to aging lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river from Oporto. 

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It must have been quite a sight.  Daring boatmen, balancing on the stern of a barco, one eye on the  precious Port, the other scanning the rocky walls that rose above the river, while manipulating a long rudder pole, keeping the cargo boat in the fast moving rapids and away from the rocks.  The men who worked those barcos, added the Portuguese word rabelo, or "fishtail," to describe the back and forth action of the steering pole in the water. 

Today, the few remaining barcos rabelos are kept around to impress the tourists, while the cargo and passengers move up and down the valley by rail. 

Up river, some 50 miles from Oporto, terraced vineyards stair step up the steep banks of the Douro, or are hidden in the narrow valleys, just off the river.  Large signs, visible from rail cars and the winding road between the tracks and the river, announce historic Port estates or quintas, like Sandeman, Croft, Dow, Fonseca and Ramos Pinto.  

A personal aside. Life in the Douro is peaceful and slow. On my first visit to Bom Retiro, the gentle slow-paced atmosphere of the quinta was a shock to my senses, coming from the fast-paced world outside the Douro.  

I was with Joao de Alemeda. We first met when Joao was with Ramos Pinto, owner of Bom Retiro.  As the director, Joao was a busy man, so he suggested the quiet of the quinta for our interview.  Although he had an office in Gaia, Bom Retiro was a spot for him to unwind and relax. 

Following a tour of the business end of the quinta, which included a look at one of the quinta's old lagers, a large trough made of slate, used by workers, shod in studded boots, to trod the grapes, we walked over to the old estate house, that once housed workers and company men up from Oporto.

We found a comfortable spot on the shaded porch of the main house, where I tried to finish the interview.  But, it was difficult to concentrate in the fading twilight, with the approaching evening slowly transforming the valley from light to dark, and the warm air shimmering with the buzz of insects. 

On that porch, in that secluded valley in Portugal, sipping an aged Tawny Port, while across the valley, a church bell counted out the evening hour, was a magical experience that has stayed with me all these years.

At every turn in the river, carved terraces hung precariously, following the contours of the steep banks.  I was told that more than one driver of a big yellow grader, carving a new terrace, lost his perspective, jumping to safety just before the huge machine plunged into the river.  In recent years, some quintas, replanting or were putting in a new vineyard, decided on vertical rows that look like green stripes disappearing over the top of the hill.

Grape growing in the Douro is labor-intensive, so having the vineyards close to the quinta was important.  For years, few growers could identify what grapes were in their vineyards, which was understandable as more than 80 varieties are authorized in the production of Port.  

Obviously, something had to be done, so in the 1970s, Cockburn and Ramos Pinto narrowed the extensive list down to five main grapes: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo) and Tinto Cao.  Those five varieties have become the accepted standard, with a handful of other grapes favored by some Port houses.

                                                                                         Wine Folly

There are two basic types of Port, plus a bewildering range of styles that demand detailed definitions to better understand the differences, sometimes subtle, between the styles of wood and bottle-aged Ports.  

Briefly, Ruby and Tawny are the two styles in the wood Port category.  Bottle-aged Port includes a string of styles like Vintage, Single Quinta Vintage, Crusted, LBV and Garrafeira.  And there's Colheita and Aged Tawny. 

A Port house has its own style, made from a proprietary combination of the five main grapes.  And, each has something unique to contribute to the house style. What is important to the consumer is which house style they find appealing.  That, of course, means that you need to sample a number of Ruby, aged Tawny Ports or Vintage to find your favorite.  

More on the pleasures of Port is scheduled for a post in the near future. 

Next post:  ABR

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