planning 1 Day in Vila Nova de Gaia, going solo

[Tym Lewis]

Hello everyone,
I'm excited to be going back to Portugal in early October, and I have one full day alone in VndG to plan for ( about noon until noon).

When I searched this site as part of my research, I discovered that most of the recommendations are more than 10 years old, with rare exceptions, like my own posts about my trip back in 2022. (you can read them again to recall who I am). People always ask what the poster is interested in so:
I am absolutely tempted by the premium tour at Grahams, and returning to Kopke and Quevedo for their delicious Colheito, but what are some better options? Where might I find an English speaking tour that hits multiple port producers over many hours, at my ideal quality per price? The internet is great at finding me tastings that end with a tawny red and white, and well, I have much higher hopes.

I have already reached out to Fredrick who I met on this site back in 2022.

I will be arriving at the airport about 9:30am, and once I get through all the bureaucracy, I will be leaving my bags at Sandeman, and hitting the town, trying to buy some bottles to take home, but most importantly try ports that I can't get at home, ideally very old , or your favorites.

I was trying to figure out how to not type this out, since much of it is in my old posts... but:
my favorite ports styles in order of my preference:
Colheita - even recent ones can be very good.
The right Vintage - I wish I knew enough to understand what I like, cause I have had some that I was sad to have bought, others have been so special that I seem to be collecting vintage port now.
Tawny. - I think of the 20yr tawny as my standard, it's good enough at the price for me to own a bunch of them. some 20 year Tawnys are better then a couple 30 years I have tried, but in general I like the older more complex ones more.
I was recently taught about Crusted Port, as the poor man's vintage port, and the one that I tried was really good. I enjoyed the power for price.
LBV's -- some of these can be better then a 20 yr tawny, but I'm not sure what kind I like other then I guess I prefer the unfiltered ones.
Reserves -- I like the price, and some of them are nice.
White port. I have had some 10 year, and young white ports that are ok, but aging them does not make them better for me.
Ruby port - Not my thing.
unfortified wine. I can drink it to be polite, but always prefer beer.

In addition to those 24 hours,
I also have some hours here and there over the next few days where I would love to squeeze port tastings into, but will be limited by how well my mother, and her retirement group can travel. Maybe I can talk them into taking a Bolt, and maybe I can't.
We technically have "all day" on Tuesday for anything I can talk people into, and I hope to get some of them onto the train into the Douro valley, but I will start another post about that topic.

TYM

[Eric Menchen]

There are lots of "introductory" options that most of the people on this forum would rather skip, consistent with your statement of "well, I have much higher hopes." Graham's does have some higher end tasting options, so I would keep that on your list, and I would definitely recommend Kopke as they have lots of good colheitas available for tasting. I would add a stop at

Bacchus Vini
https://goo.gl/maps/R7eWFaaBLE72
Right next to the bridge on the Porto side, this is a good place to sample tawny and colheita Ports. They have a good selection and Maria Fonseca, one of the owners, is very friendly.

It might be worth checking out the new(ish) Garrafeira Nacional shop in Porto: https://maps.app.goo.gl/zuLZGtCPMDkuLx2q7

And maybe consider

Lado
https://goo.gl/maps/derFgnGpgPU2
This is also a place to eat, but I list it here because they have a good selection of Ports to drink as well. I've only been here for dessert and Port (twice). I think this is or used to be associated with Avepod (Associação de Viticultores Engarrafadores dos Vinhos do Porto e Douro), which promotes smaller producers.

[Mike J. W.]

If you really enjoy Tawnies and Colheitas, I would highly recommend Pocas and Andresen. Pocas has a very nice tasting room experience and they will also ship any Port you buy there to the States. Try their 40 and 50 year old.

I don't know if Andresen has a tasting room per se., we were at their bottling operation for a tour and we sampled a lot of excellent Colheita and the 40 year-old Tawny, but that may have been a one off. Their Colheitas are worth checking out.

Those would be the two I would check out along with Kopke which is down the street from Sandeman. Have fun and report back.

[Glenn E.]

Your group might be interested in a tour of the Ramos Pinto lodge and museum. The museum is housed in their old HQ building (which is right next to their new(er) lodge) and is much larger than the "museums" in places like Sandeman. If you want to tour, either stop by the day before or early in the morning in order to reserve your time and language. They hold tours all day, but in many languages so you need to select yours for your time before anyone else has reserved that time. You can arrange for a tasting after the tour, but as I recall it's a pretty basic tasting. 1 white, 1 ruby, 1 tawny or something similar.

I'd also recommend taking your group to the Sao Bento train station to see the tiles. It won't take long to visit, but it's very pretty.

On to the Port...

The Graham lodge does have some nice tastings now. Plus the Vinum restaurant is a great place for lunch or dinner.

I will second Eric's recommendation for both Bacchus Vini and for LaDo. BV is really a "must try" type of place because Maria has a much more eclectic selection of Port than most places. She's truly independent... most other places are at minimum sponsored and so tend to focus on their sponsor's (or owner's) Ports. LaDo is sort of sponsored, but it's by a group of smaller producers who all make really good white Port and tawny Port.

I'll also second Mike's recommendation of Pocas. Their tour and tasting options are rather nice, and they're not someone that you're likely to have tried before. I think their visitor's center is new within perhaps the last 10 years? I would also second the recommendation for Andresen, except that I don't believe they have a tasting room or visitor center. Every time I've been there has been on one of Roy's tours, and while the visits are very special they're also not available without someone (like Roy) to set it up for you.

Kopke on the waterfront. Noval on the waterfront. Quevedo just up the hill. Burmester just off the bridge on the Gaia side.

That's surely enough to keep you busy!

[Tym Lewis]

you guys rock!

I think I am twice as excited today, as I was yesterday.

TYM