For The Love Of Port

Dec 28th was my wife's birthday and my gift to her was a day of vacation from our young baby in either Porto or Lisbon (I am from Coimbra and we are typically there over Xmas) to hang out and taste some yummy food.

She chose Porto and off we went. The plan was to have breakfast at The Yeatman, then lunch at Paparico (thanks Rob for your question to the port trade on the last newsletter) and later on hang out in the Ribeira.

Our first stop was at The Yeatman. It is a beautiful venue, amazing views of Porto, truly outstanding service. I highly recommend it. We didnt stay there overnight but I guarantee that we eventually will. Breakfast was a steal at 17€/person. It was buffet style but you had your take of champagne, caviar, yummy cheeses, while overlooking Porto. After breakfast we had a little time to kill and it was still cold out. We were enjoying it so much that we decided to stick around and have a drink.
The other half had the glass on the left, a wonderful red from Alentejo and I had the port on the right. Descriptions of both below.
Both were amazing.

The port blew me away. A dense mouthful of fruit w not a hint of spirit. Reminded me of a 2007 Graham I had several months ago. It tasted that young, though already over 20 years of age! I was surprised to later read the lukewarm reviews of it on FTLOP. Maybe my palate is just different from that of most here! There is a store in Portugal (winehouseportugal.com) that sells it for €31/bottle and at that price it appears to me to be a total steal. WineBid.Com has it for $30, but for a half bottle!

The Alentejo was also v nice. Its aroma was fantastic and tasted wonderfully.

I liked them so much that I asked the bartender how they keep their bottles once opened. They keep them in nitrogen fridges on display . The wines 30 years and younger are kept at 17C (63F) and those older than that at 7C (45F). They keep their champagne bottles in the fridge after pumping a gas (didnt ask which) into them to keep them from going flat.

We left The Yeatman already past 1pm and headed down towards the river on our way to lunch.

I sadly realized that Paparico is only open for dinner and hence changed plans. Thanks again to Rob's question to the port trade, we made our way to DOP, a short 5-10 minute walk from the Ribeira, on the Porto side of the river.

DOP was v good but not outstanding. After having been at The Yeatman earlier on, service just didnt compare and the food, although one of the courses was outstanding (it had tilapia wrapped scallops and other seafood), didnt live up to the final tab.

We made our way back down to the Ribeira for a coffee at the site of the old bridge. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we couldnt have asked for a more fantastic setting for having coffee.
From there we went back to the Gaia side of the river and stopped at the Quinta do Noval store. Bought a bottle of Quinta do Noval Tawny for €8.5 - that beats the $12/bottle that I paid a few weeks back at what is the cheapest store in the US on www.wine-searcher.com. What a fantastic price!

Our day quickly wrapped up as we headed back to Coimbra. It was a wonderful time that the wife thoroughly enjoyed! Porto never lets me down :)


PS - Even if Quinta do Noval had super competitive pricing, at The Yeatman store, Croft 2003 was priced at €135/bottle... Shocking, as I got a couple of bottles on winebid.com a few months back for $55...

If you are looking for Douro cruise trips and Douro vineyards, slot wine cellars., structure and museums of Porto, a day trip to Coimbra and Ryanair , go to Porto. If not, check Lisboa.

Miguel,
I somehow missed this post earlier Thanks for sharing and loved the pics!!

And sorry you missed O Paparico. I've eaten there a number of times now and have had nothing but great experiences. IMO, O Paparico is the best restaurant I've been to in Oporto. And IMO, it's better than DOP, which I'm not a huge fan of. DOC on the other hand rocks and I always love eating there when up river.

I do like DOP, but agree that DOC typically delivers a better experience. Is that because Rui's wife runs such a tight ship in Douro? It is hard to figure because more often than not, Rui Paula is cooking in DOP and not DOC. I am a huge fan of Paparico too and only wish the menu changed more often. Otherwise, I would be happy eating there several times in a week. I also wish it was just a little closer to the Ribeira district, but realize that is part of its charm, being in the middle of nowhere and without any sign on the door.

Roy Hersh wrote:I am a huge fan of Paparico too and only wish the menu changed more often. Otherwise, I would be happy eating there several times in a week. I also wish it was just a little closer to the Ribeira district, but realize that is part of its charm, being in the middle of nowhere and without any sign on the door.

Don't forget it's in a rougher part of town, the door is locked, you have to knock, and then they look at you through the curtain and decide if you are really supposed to be there. Now that you don't see anymore

DOP to me is too much like a regular commercialized restaurant. I haven't been impressed with the service, food, or the noise level. There is no charm to it and I feel like I'm at a restaurant here in the States. The couple times I've eaten here it always seems like they are just trying to turn the table as quickly as they can. I just don't see the point in going there when there are other far more intimate, or should I say authentic, options with better service and food and where you don't feel rushed.

DOC, even when busy, is run like a well oiled machine and the attention to even tiny details is amazing. The food is always great and who doesn't love the charm of being on the water with the Douro landscape out the glass walls. There is never the feeling they are hurrying you up to turn a table, matter of fact you can stay as long as you want. Which I have on a few occasions stayed well past closing time, being the last ones out. I never tire of going here.

The difference between them is, to me, quite stark.

I was super looking fwd to Paparico. It is right up Christine's alley and from what I had read, she would have totally loved it. We were on foot and DOP was the possible compromise at the time.

We will surely make it to Paparico one day :)