For The Love Of Port

Hi all,

I haven't been around the forum much lately due to lack of leisure time… but now I can say that I've booked a family vacation from July 6th to 23rd. Exact itinerary is still being worked out but I would love the opportunity do step away from family duties and hook up with any FTOP members for simple chat/visit or we can improvise a sampling of something (each person brings something) or a nice meal restaurant or pic-nic whatever works and is low pressure low stress for all involved.

We land in LIS and leave from OPO so most likely the last couple of days will include a visit and 1 night in the douro valley(i'm looking for options), the last day and night in porto & VNG.

Since my kids are young the bulk of the trip will be centred around beach time along the the silver coast (most of my relatives live inside 1hr driving radius of Leiria).

There will be a few mandatory stops in a few cities/places of interest and we do plan to spend 2-3 days in the south as well.

Anyway, I can't make any firm commitments yet but would certainly enjoy connecting with anyone, who knows maybe we can find 2 or 3, the more the merrier..I speak Portuguese fluently but with a canadian accent and some english expressions,

For now just putting the idea out there.
Oh and I can bring a can of authentic maple syrup or a bottle of ice wine both I know are rather uncommon in PT.

cheers
Paul

Sounds like fun! I wish I was going to be there at that time. Let us know where you are going to visit in the Douro.

Welcome back PB, where have you been?

Timing is not overlapping, but it would be great to hook up someday whilst there. Glad to have you back here, even if just for this moment. How have you been?

Bad timing, Paul - I will arrive in Porto on July 25th, just after you have left. I hope to be able to hang out some evenings as VINOLOGIA, my home away from home...

Should other FTLOP friends be in Porto at the end of July, beginning of August, please let me know - it's always great to meet other fanatics! First round is on me...

good afternoon

I just discovered this group. I saw that that you are determined to visit the northern region if you need help and some advice where to stay and where to eat just say. The Douro already have some good options one day seems a short time to visit the region.

Greetings
Francisco

Ok so I'm back and report on the wine/Port highlights of my family trip.

First off sorry Francisco, I didn't see your post untill now or I would have certainly exchanged a few emails with you, fica para a próxima vez.

We pretty much accomplished everything we planned.
Sintra, Obidos (both have wine and port shops with very rare and unusual bottles that you might not find so easily elsewhere) but comparing the price onmore common bottles with other places in portugal there is certainly a "tourist premium" on the prices in those two cities. But if there is a rare one you are looking for, might be possible in those to places.

Spent 2 nights and 3 days in the Algarve. What's to say, if your there it is for the beach.

In Gaia, visisted Wiese & Krohn and tasting. I enjoy this one very much it was my first time. Discovered that they have some super super old wine still in barell. Small quantities so it might be just for the owners to enjoy or some very limited future bottlings.
Stopped at the Sogevinus and purchased an 1967 Kopke colheita my first 67 off my special list (http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... 967#p47188). Only 40 to go. I did see a few others from this list on this trip so I'm encouraged but my budget for this project will have to be increased.

Went to Graham's but didn't do the visit or tasting. They have really changed the place since last time I went there. And perhaps we chose the wrong street to get there (we walked up Rua Rei Ramiro) but by the time we arrived at the entrance of the lovely hall where the tours start, all of us had nothing left in our legs. The path is all around the restuarant and shop and who knows what else (this part alone is about 800 meters of walking from the gate to the hall entrance). Huge dissapointment. The right way to get to grahams is by car and to park in their facility I think were you apprach the hall from the back so much less walking around buildings. Walking it from the douro shore is not recommended as you will not have any energy left. So instead I went to the shop. The staff had no Port competence, they are just cashiers to collect payment. So I picked out a precious numbered Warre 2009 VP and paid. Initially the cashier made a mistake and was going to charge me a LBV 2009 and was trying hard to force fit the bottle in the incorrect wooden box but it just would not fit no matter how har he pushed. I then told him it wasn't expensive enough... that I was buying a VP not an LBV and would also prefer to have the correct Warre box for this numbered bottle and for a bottle of this price. So after some scrambling while I'm waiting, the correct price was charged and the box was found but it took 2 cashiers.
I had a very different experience 6 years ago at Grahams where a super knowledgeable senior employee (still have his card in my files) handled my free tasting (no longer free now) and even had me try something not on the standard tasting (VP 80 which I ended buying among other things since it was so good). He went further... helped me get a table at Chez Lapin using his contacts for the same evening. Well, the place looks great at least. Even if the customer experience is different. I'll probably give Grahams another try in the future as I love and own so many of their products.

We didn't sleep in Porto, instead we drove off to the douro valley. We stayed at the lovely Quinta Da Pacheca for two nights. Nice rooms, nice restaurant, visist and facility. Staff was very nice. It was very hot those days so certainly a pool would have been enjoyed at the end of our daily routes in the valley but that is still in the plans for the future at Pacheca. We also booked a short boat ride on the douro. It was 1 hrs duration which translates to starting in Regua and the boat turning around in front of Quinta da Romaneira. This was also somewhat dissapointing as this short stretch of douro didn't have much too see and the captain didn't say a word for 1hr. We tasted all the Pacheca products and a purchased some of their wines, ports, olive oil and jams.

In our day to day, we enjoyed such good food, fish, cheese and local products purchased in tradional markets or in grocery stores. In particular lots of great wines in the 5 to 8 euro range, Kopke Douro red and Fita Preta come to mind. I also opened a very old (2000 or there abouts) Quinta das Heredias red purchased 6 years ago at the quinta when we slepted there, that I had left behind in portugal and it was just phenomenal. Which confirms that Douro red are built to last and good ones should be opened after 10 years or more.

Finally I would say , that sadly most restaurants we eat at still don't pay much attention to the wine list (how it is presented), the temperature of the wine and the service of the wine. Perhaps that means that if they did, there is some upsell and growth potential there in the local market.

overall great vacation and will look forward to returning. Hopefully with less gap in time between visists.

cheers
Paul

Paul,
Thanks for the recap of your trip. Sorry to hear about Graham's, hopefully the employees were just having a bad day as in the past the service and staff there have been excellent.

Paul_B wrote: In particular lots of great wines in the 5 to 8 euro range, Kopke Douro red and Fita Preta come to mind. I also opened a very old (2000 or there abouts) Quinta das Heredias red purchased 6 years ago at the quinta when we slepted there, that I had left behind in portugal and it was just phenomenal. Which confirms that Douro red are built to last and good ones should be opened after 10 years or more.

Finally I would say , that sadly most restaurants we eat at still don't pay much attention to the wine list (how it is presented), the temperature of the wine and the service of the wine. Perhaps that means that if they did, there is some upsell and growth potential there in the local market.
Paul

I have visited FTLOP for the first time in a few months and just completed my post saying that I think Douro table wines need at least 10 years, and the very next post I read is this one. I also agree with you that there are lots of great wines from all areas of Portugal at modest prices - I normally pay under €5 for my everyday drinking, but then I mean "every day".

As you say, restaurants, whilst cheap for excellent food, do not pay much attention to the wine list. Some do not even have a list as such. Those that do tend to be comparatively expensive and are probably not patronised by the average Portuguese - wealthier ones yes, but not working class ones.

Hello Paul,
Thanks for sharing your impressions from your Porto-trip.
First of all: I think you can consider yourself very lucky... You must have been one of the last people in the nearly 150 years of the existence of that company that had a Wiese & Krohn tasting. I went a few days after you to their lodge - as W & K has always been one of my favorite producers - and I had the sad pleasure to witness how everything in the lodge was dismantled and carried out. A very sad moment, to see the end of such a great company.
Graham's lodge - yes, not easy to reach when you walk from the riverside... but I must say the staff was friendly and professional as always. It's a beautiful lodge, and their Super Premium Tawny tasting is one of the best values for money that you can get in Gaia (EUR 30 buys you a glass of a 30 year and a 40 year old Tawny and a Colheita 1969). I must confess that I didn't buy any wine in the Graham's shop, only a T-shirt, as my suitcase was already more than full... - so I can't comment on the knowledge of the sales people.
I'm not surprised that you enjoyed Quinta da Pacheca - It's really nice - I love the octopus in their restaurant... one of the best I ever had.
Your idea to start collecting / drinking all wines from your birthday is really good...!!! As I was born in 1966, I think I will need to win the lottery a few times before I can consider doing the same with my birth-year... :)
Hope to see you at some point of time in Porto in the future...!!!