Porto & Douro travel log

[Thomas V]

Simon and I flew to Porto on a Monday morning via Frankfurt and landed around 16 local time. It was easy to catch the metro to the city and it was only 2.5 Euro. We checked into our hotel just behind Sao Bento train station, worth a visit just for the decorations inside. It was a bit late to visit Gaia but we decided to anyway and just selected a few glasses each at Quinta do Noval. No doubt the 20YO Noval was the stand out it had a nice lushness and viscosity. For me it is better than the Ferreira 20YO, which was a surprise for me as I don’t particular think about tawnies when Noval is mentioned.

Noval 10YO Tawny (N/R)
Noval 20YO Tawny (92)
Noval 2011 LBV (89)
Noval Black (87)

We had dinner at a little square and we started realizing that if you want a seat at the good restaurants in prime time during high season, you had better book a table in advance. Else you will be waiting or walking around. When then went to Portologia to quench our thirst. We ordered a couple of glasses each and started chatting with the personnel about all things Port. Was great and it is easy to chat with the other guests novices or not. You should definitely stop by if in Porto, just remember that are specialized in small producers.

Lamelas 10YO Sweet White (N/R)
Sct. Eufemia 2010 Vintage (N/R)
S. Leonardo 20YO Tawny (91)
Sct. Eufemia Colheita (88)

Next morning we took the train to Pinhão ( I recommend getting the tickets a day in advance, to avoid queue). It was cheap again at 11 Euro per person 1 way. Took around 2½ hours. We arrived and had to climb the hills to the LBV House Hotel with our luggage in around 40 degrees Celsius, which caused quite the sweat. We then went back down again to get some lunch and then proceed to Quinta do Bomfim visitor center for a tour and a tasting. Great facility. Clean, light and pleasant. The guide was knowledgeable and friendly and the tasting was in a nice cool area with a view of the Douro river. We also had a ½ hour with Gustavo Devesa that was so nice to drop us off at our next stop Quinta de Seixo.

Graham’s Six Grapes (87)
Graham’s 2004 Malvedos (88)
Graham’s 20YO Tawny (89)
Dow’s 30YO Tawny (92)
Graham’s 40YO Tawny (91+)
Grahams 1972 Colheita (94)

Seixo had a great view but that was about it. The place was very touristy and superficial and I would not recommend it to anyone really. Also I have started to realize for myself atleast that I don’t particular enjoy any of the Sandman ports I have tried so far. Only the Vau Vintage was any good really.

Sandeman White Port (84)
Sandeman Founders Reserve (85)
Sandeman 2003 Vau Vintage (90)
Sandeman Tawny Reserve (N/R)
Sandeman 10YO Tawny (90)
Sandeman 20YO Tawny (90)
Sandeman 30YO Tawny (91)
Sandeman 40YO Tawny (90)

We then grabbed a taxi back to Pinhão for dinner at the LBV79 restaurant by the Douro river. It wasn’t that good actually. Therefore, we ate quickly and went to our hotel to drink a 2011 Dow’s LBV that we bought earlier and relaxing a bit. The next morning we relaxed at the pool while I took care of some business as I got a new job while in Porto!!! Then we grabbed a taxi to Celerios to visit Luisa Borges from Vieira de Sousa. At Luisa’s old house, we saw the very old vats that has been in the family for some time and we did some tastings straight from the vats of the following while Luisa told us about their company, their production and how the outlook of 2016 was going.

Vieira de Sousa 40+YO White (N/R)
Vieira de Sousa 60+YO White (N/R)
Vieira de Sousa 30+YO Tawny (N/R)
Vieira de Sousa 40+YO Tawny (N/R)

The 60+ White was excellent and we enjoyed our stay very much. So we thanked Luisa and went back to town were we dropped by Bomfim once more to try the Vintage of the Month which was the 1989 Vesuvio, the first vintage after the company was bought by the Symingtons. To no surprise, this is my favourite house for many reasons. However, this wine did indeed suffer from some serious Douro bake. I have a full note for this that I will post in TN DB.


Quinta do Vesuvio 1989 Vintage (90) TNDB

The next morning we went to DR also know to some as Agri Roncão (http://agri-roncao.pt/en/) at Quinta da Levanderia in Roncão. The estate was bought by Domingos Ribeiro in 2001 and completely overhauled. Domingos was from a poor family that did have some relations to the wine trade and after he became a successful businessman he knew he wanted to own and run a vineyard at some point. The search took some years before he finally bought Quinta da Levanderia and the rest is history. The facility is state of the art and there is a sense of respect for the history in the air at Roncão. Only the best is good enough and it is reflected in the staff, the grounds and the wines. This is a house that should not be underestimated and my esteem for their wines has only continued to improve. Elisabete showed us around and answered our questions and was just a joyful hostess.

Then we had a little tasting the 3 of us. After we had tasted the white, the 2 rubys and the 4 tawnies she blew off the roof by offering us a small sample of their 1885 colheita. Wouww just wow. That is the best port I have ever tasted. Just liquid gold – though it was brown as coca cola. Also the tawnies was straight from the vats!

Another note. The DR 2011 LBV is the best I have tasted yet and I have had: Burmester, Barros, Kopke, Quevedo, Niepoort, Taylor’s, Dow’s, Fonseca, Noval, Bulas & Vieira De Sousa. This is a splendid LBV and I recommend you buy some. I was lucky enough to get to buy some and a few vintages as well.

DR White Port (89)
DR 2011 LBV (92)(best in class)
DR 2011 Vintage (94+)
DR 10YO Tawny (90)
DR 20YO Tawny (91)
DR 30YO Tawny (93)
DR 40YO Tawny (92)
DR 1885 Colheita (98+)

How could this be topped. Well we headed straight for Quinta de Napoles to visit Frederick Blais still buzzing from the experience with so many great wines. At Napoles we were greeted by Fred, who was busy at the grape sorting belt where the day’s harvest of green grapes were being processed. Some reds were harvested as well and we saw large steel tanks with where the grapes were being chilled with dry ice to slow down the natural fermentation process. As Napoles mostly produce table wines we very guided around in the storage facilities where Fred served up a lot of different reds that were still in French oak. After dwelling deep into the cave of Napoles (It is carved into the bedrock aka the schist, which acts as a natural cooling agent) we reached the vats with the 2015 Niepoort Bioma – Drik’s organic port. This really packs a punch and our smiles widened further as this is a great young port wine. After having tasted in the cellar we proceeded to the terrace where Fred lined up some more Niepoort port and could relax in the 45 degrees Celsius and discuss port and manly things. All of a sudden 3½ hours had passed and it was time to return to Pinhão for some dinner. But alas Simon my travel companion managed to break the key in the toilet door making for quite the fun situation where Fred and other employees scrambled to get Simon out from the toilet. I joked that he was upset that Fred hadn’t opened a Garraferia and was protesting in the toilet.

A lot of different reds that I can’t remember all the names of (N/R)
Niepoort Bioma 2015 Vintage – Cask sample (92)
Niepoort Bioma 2013 Vintage (N/R)
Niepoort 2005 Colheita (N/R)
Niepoort 2012 LBV (N/R)

The last day in the Douro valley we very so lucky to have an appointment with Oscar Quevedo in San Joao d. Pesquira where they have their winery. We arrived by taxi and Oscar met us and we did the introductions. I have meet Oscar twice before but it was a first for Simon. We sat down with Oscar and just talked a bit for a while. I asked him when they add the wine spirits to their must and Oscar asked me if I had ever tasted the pure 77% alc. Wine spirit. I had not and Oscar promptly brought out 2 small bottles on of the normal quality and one of very high quality. The price difference was quite substantial. We then proceeded to taste both and for those that relay to other than the wine spirits are odourless and tasteless. I am sorry to say you are mistaken. They both had a distinct smell and flavour but very differently.

We then proceeded into the cellars and tasted a wide variety of LBV’s and Colheitas straight from the vats & pipas. We saw some fun experiments that hopefully will turn out positively and can be revealed to the public in a few years time. It was great to see that playfulness that is a characteristic of a company that is doing well and have excess energy to improve and try out new things. The high light of the day was when we got to taste a very old white port from both Simon and my birth year namely 1981. That was a sure hit with us. After the tasting we went to a local restaurant you’d never been able to find yourself and had a very nice lunch with Oscar while talking all things port related. It was a pleasure visiting and in Oscar the Douro has a great ambassador for all things port and wine related.

Quevedo 2015 Touriga Nacional (N/R)
Quevedo 2013 Touriga Francesca (N/R)
Quevedo 1981 White Port (93+)
Quevedo Rosé (87)
Quevedo 2014a LBV (91)
Quevedo 2003 LBV (N/R)
Quevedo 1992 Colheita (N/R)
Quevedo 1997 Colheita (N/R)

And some more I can’t remember. Tasted around 12-14+ wines.

It was then time to leave the Douro and the immense heat behind as we took the train back to Porto for some more chilled coastal climate. In the evening we ate at a tapas restaurant, recommend to us buy some Brits that were staying at our hotel. We had booked a table previously and that was a wise move as a crowd was standing outside trying to get a table around 20 when we got there. The name of the restaurant is Caldeireiros and is located close to the Clérigos Tower. The food was well made and delicious and the prices for wine were very fair. We had a 2014 Mural from Portal, which we nice and fresh.

Saturday arrived which was big and exciting day for us. We had breakfast at the hotel and then slowly walked from Porto to Graham’s lodge on the hills of Vila Nova de Gaia. A beautiful place, which has a picturesque view of Porto from the top of the hill. Gustavo Devesas had arranged for a private tour with a few other Danes, namely Henrik who is the chairman of the Danish port club P81 which is known by a few inhere at least. We were guided through the cellars and saw the Symington private collection making any port enthusiast drool heavily. Then we were shown to the private tasting room where a splendid line up of Graham’s were ready for us.

Graham’s 10YO Tawny (90)
Graham’s 20YO Tawny (88)
Graham’s 30YO Tawny (92) – First time I’ve tasted curry leaf in a port
Graham’s 40YO Tawny (92)
Graham’s 1972 Colheita (95)
Graham’s Six Grapes (88)
Graham’s 2004 Malvedos Vintage (88)
Graham’s 2000 Vintage (92)

We even had to postpone our lunch reservation at Vinum cause we were having such a great time together with Henrik’s party of 6. Later on we were seated at the best table at the Vinum patio with a splendid view in the nice weather. We were served a freshly grilled sea bass, with a tomato salad, potatoes and a nice crisp white wine. Afterwards while we were just relaxing when we were offered an additional glass of 1972 colheita compliments of the house and we did not think twice about that. Everything about the experience was top professional. With the Graham’s lodge things are just taken up a notch, well so is the price but it is really worth it. Don’t miss out if you haven’t been there yet. Good job Gustavo!

We then dragged our lazy bodies down the hill to Sogevinus house where we had an appointment with Joao who poured us glasses of from the different brands owned by the Sogevinus group. The stand out here was the Kopke 2003 White Colheita. It was really really splendid and probably deserved 1-2 points more. I must buy some for Simon for Christmas as he was really digging this wine. Of the Sogevinus brands I must admit that I prefer Kopke with Barros in 2nd place. The others leave much to be desired.

Barros 10YO White (87)
Kopke 2003 White Colheita (92-93)
Kopke 20YO White (88)
Burmester 30YO Tawny (90)
Kopke 1980 Colheita (88)
Barros 1976 Colheita (91)
Burmester 2011 LBV (86)
Barros 2011 LBV (87)
Gilbert’s 1999 Vintage (87)

Then it was time for a nap and some recuperation in our hotel before our dinner at O’Paparico that so many both on FTLOP and elsewhere had been raving about. Now it was time to see what all the fuzz was about. We were seated at 20 where the “house” was fairly empty besides the few couples. We chose a 3 course menu pared with wines. To our surprise we went through 3 dishes all paired with wine before we even saw our entrees. Especially 1 dish stood out. It was a wild boar paté with a port reduction sauce and crackers accompanied by a late harvest wine from some other region in Portugal. It was out of this world. I just wanted to eat that the rest of the night. Sergio was there and checked in from time to time and was making sure everything was in order without being to fuzzy. A great host and he really is passionate about what he does and he got excited when we told him about our love for port and tables wines from Portugal. I have official joined the O’Paparico fanclub – 97 points. After that extravaganza we headed to the hotel for some well deserved sleep. What an amazing day in Porto that I will never forget.

The Sunday schedule was not so tightly packed as the previous day. “Only” 2 stops. The first being at the Kopke house and the second at the Burmester cellars. We got up a little late and had some wholesome lunch in Gaia and then proceeded to Kopke where we were met by Andreia our hostess. She made a great introduction to the Kopke brand, their history and the prospects of the 2016 harvest. She served us up a tasting of 5 Kopke ports:

Kopke 10YO White (89)
Kopke 2003 White Colheita (93)
Kopke 40YO Tawny (92)
Kopke 1978 Colheita (90)
Kopke 1966 Colheita (92)
_____________________________
Kopke 1935 Colheita (89)

After that Andreia returned with 2 glasses and asked us to taste and guess what it was. We took the challenge and thoroughly inspected and tasted the wine. Much discussion proceed before we proclaimed it to be a Kopke 30YO Tawny. Ohh boy were we wrong. It was just merely a 1935 Kopke Colheita. Jeezes. Andreia told us this bottling from 2015 was much inferior to the previous bottling, which can also be seen from my rating. It was very spirit dominated and not that spectacular. What a shame.

After Kopke we went to our final appoint of our trip at Burmester. We had a short private tour where our hostess in fun complained about us knowing more about port then her. Fun stuff. The Burmester caves are if I recall correctly part of the UNESCO and were fun to visit. The tasting however was disappointing. The all of the wines including the tawnies lacked character and substance. They were just sweet and not very interesting.

Burmester White Port (N/R)
Burmester Jockey Club (N/R)
Burmester 40YO Tawny Port (N/R)
Burmester 1989 Colheita Port (N/R)

We spend the rest of the evening relaxing and eating out while preparing for our flight home the next morning.

Reflection over the trip it has been a great adventure to share with my best friend. I am glad he wanted to join me in the Douro a place becoming a special place in my heart. The efforts I made to make private appointments were worth the effort and it still amazes me how friendly and welcoming the people of Portugal are. Inviting in total strangers and giving them a once in a lifetime experience at their Quinta. Anyone with some tenacity can make what I did happen themselves.
Additionally I am baffled at how excellent the quality of port is. Sometimes I (we) get caught up in point scoring and 87 and 92 this or that. Port wine from the Douro is just an amazing product and the overall quality keeps amazing me over and over. What is even more incredible is the price at which you can attain this godly drink. Best we keep that fact a secret to the rest of the world.

I want to thank all the helpful people in here offering up advice and tips. I appreciate it more than you know. I hope to be able to repay the favor or one day being able to pour you a glass of a special port.

Pictures from the trip: http://imgur.com/a/NrXH6

Best port of the trip: 1885 DR Colheita Port
Biggest surprise port of the trip: 2003 Kopke White Colheita Port
Best bargain port of the trip: 1974 Nieeport Colheita

/Thomas

[Roy Hersh]

Thanks for your impressions, Thomas. Glad you had such a great time with your friend in seeing Gaia, Porto and the Douro.

In describing your last visit, you mention you were at the Sandeman Lodge in Gaia, but then the wines listed below were Burmester. Could you please clarify that for readers so they know if this is correct?

A nice write up!

Very cool that you had the opportunity to meet up with Henrik and his crew.

[Thomas V]

Thanks for your impressions, Thomas. Glad you had such a great time with your friend in seeing Gaia, Porto and the Douro.

In describing your last visit, you mention you were at the Sandeman Lodge in Gaia, but then the wines listed below were Burmester. Could you please clarify that for readers so they know if this is correct?

A nice write up!

Very cool that you had the opportunity to meet up with Henrik and his crew.

It was Burmester. I changed the typos. Thanks for pointing it out.

Cheers

[Eric Ifune]

Sounds like a fantastic trip.
And congratulations on the new job!

[Frederick Blais]

Just a small precision, when you write green grapes, you mean grapes for white wine correct? But you are right, they look green/yellowish most of the time :)

[Thomas V]

Sounds like a fantastic trip.
And congratulations on the new job!

Thanks Eric. A strange situation sorting out a job contract and all those details while on vacation. However things turned out great and we had a truly great experience.

Just a small precision, when you write green grapes, you mean grapes for white wine correct? But you are right, they look green/yellowish most of the time :)

Hi Fred.

You are correct. I am not a pro like you, so I just call the grapes by which the colour they have. I realize that all grape juice is transparent and only the skin contact / oxidation change that (or adding dye). Perhaps I should have written white wine grapes? Maybe that is more accurate.

I hope things are good with you at Napoles and are enjoying your time in the Douro.

[Frederick Blais]

No worries Thomas... I think, normally people refer as simply white grapes. Same thing for red wines, commonly it is written red grapes but most of the time they are blue, purple or black like, rarely reddish.

[Eric Menchen]

And to me, "green" grapes are the unripened ones. They all start out that way.

[Eric Menchen]

Nice writeup and pictures!

[Thomas V]

Nice writeup and pictures!

Thanks Eric and fun point about the grapes.