First visit to Porto, Douro Valley & Lisbon

[SBradley]

My wife and i will be visiting Portugal end of March. We arrive in Porto mid-afternoon and have the next full day, then drive to the Six Senses Resort in Lamego where we will have three full days followed by one full day in Lisbon before returning to the US (alas, it is a short trip). The only MUST DO on our list is visiting Quinta do Panascal as Fonseca is my favorite port. In Porto, we can hit one port house for dinner upon arrival (Calem?), then figuring four houses the following day (2 AM, 2 PM). So far my research has suggested Kopke, Quinta do Noval, Vasconcellos, Ramos Pinto and Delaforce. We don't need cellar tours, simply looking for distinctive houses that offer opportunities to taste "not your usual, well-known" ports. I'm new to this community so reaching out for suggestions in all three destinations. Please do share. Thank you, Steve

[Glenn E.]

If you're just looking to try interesting "not your usual" Ports and not necessarily looking for a lodge/cellar tour, then there are bars you might want to visit instead of so many lodges.

Maria Fonseca has a bar called Bacchus Vini in Porto on the waterfront all the way up on the Ponte Dom Luis end, and she has a fantastic selection of harder-to-find Ports available by the glass.

As far as lodge tours go in case you change your mind, Sandeman and Ramos Pinto are at opposite ends of the style spectrum and at least to me are the two best. Sandeman is slick, polished, and almost touristy, but an excellent overview and presentation. Ramos Pinto is still professional, but much more homey and includes a tour of their old lodge which is now a museum. Ramos Pinto should be on every list because of the museum - no other tour gives you that same (or even similar) look back into history.

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Steve,

If someone is steering you to do the Vasconcellos Port lodge, they are doing you an injustice. Do not waste your time touring this facility. If you are going just to drink the Ports; I can't think of a worse place to go and I am trying to be as nice as possible, but I can't think of a single Vasconcellos Port that I'd want to drink!!

There are SO MANY other places that are more enjoyable and with FAR greater Ports and overall experiences.

[Eric Ifune]

Agree with Glenn. If you mainly want to taste, then go to some of the better wine bars. Bacchus Vini is great. Vinofino and Portologia are a couple of others. The Grahams lodge is a nice place in Gaia. Good restaurant as well. In Lisbon, go to the Garrafeira Nacional shop in the Time Out Market. They have a nitrogen system for wine by the glass. Some nice Portuguese table wines and usually some interesting Ports as well.

[Thomas V]

A few recommendations.

You mention trying non typical and lesser know port houses. I would recommend you visit Vasques De Carvalho in Vila Nova de Gaia. They make outstanding wood aged ports e.g. tawnies and have a new lodge that opened just last year. Be sure to try their 20 & 30 year old tawny as well as their white reserva (which has quite some age to it 20+ years if I recall correctly). It is top shelf.

https://goo.gl/maps/WxDrifZb1W82

A little more touristy - but do a drink or lunch on the Porto Cruz rooftop restaurant/bar in Gaia as well. The view is spectacular.

In the Douro I would also suggest you visit Quinta Santa Eufemia a smaller family owned house that do great white, tawnies and a little vintage / lbv. The atmosphere there is very cosy and family-oriented. They are open to the public, but if you mail them in advance you could perhaps have a private tour and lunch with the family under the trees. I tried it last year and it was a special experience. Else options could be Bulas or DR, but smaller producers that make great tawnies.

Also make sure you have dinner reservations both in Douro and Porto.

I can recommend in Douro: DOC, Quinta de la Rosa and Quinta do Portal

In Porto: DOP, Eskalduna Studio, Semea, O Gavato, Oficina, Cervejaria Brasão (Aliados), Caldeireiros

Enjoy your trip

[Eric Menchen]

In Porto, we can hit one port house for dinner upon arrival (Calem?), then figuring four houses the following day (2 AM, 2 PM). So far my research has suggested Kopke, Quinta do Noval, Vasconcellos, Ramos Pinto and Delaforce. We don't need cellar tours, simply looking for distinctive houses that offer opportunities to taste "not your usual, well-known" ports.

So I've been to Cálem three times, and I'm not aware that you can have dinner there. They do tours, tastings, and fado (for which my preference is fado vadio in one of the tiny places in Porto or Lisbon, not a big show), and there are cheese and chocolate (maybe a little charcuterie meat?) options, but not full dinner. If you want to eat at one of the lodges, I recommend Graham's Vinum. I also enjoyed a meal many years ago at Taylor, at Barão Fladgate, but I think the dynamic has probably changed now that they opened the hotel (with Michelin starred restaurant) across the street. Maybe someone else can weigh in on this. The view certainly is nice from there.

If you do actually want a cellar tour, I would now recommend Cálem for all the information they provide on the Douro, grape varieties, etc. They have an an entirely new setup (since 2015?) that is very impressive and a good overview. It is modern, so entirely unlike some of the "see our old cellars and cooperage tools" tours, which are also enjoyable, but different.

The other recommendations here are all good. I've been to most of the restaurants mentioned, although I couldn't get into Caldeireiros on my last trip. Echoing Thomas, I definitely recommend making reservations for wherever you want to go. While both are good, I prefer DOC over DOP, which should work well for you since you'll be in Lamego for three days, but less in Porto.

[SBradley]

Thanks all for the thoughts and suggestions. We're excited to be traveling soon. One question for the forum - how do you recommend shipping port/wine back from Portugal? Not sure my wife will be cool with simply putting it checked bags. Figuring 6-12 bottles in total. Ideally, we find a shipper in the Douro Valley but Lisbon is also possible.
Thanks,
Steve

[Eric Menchen]

Thanks all for the thoughts and suggestions. We're excited to be traveling soon. One question for the forum - how do you recommend shipping port/wine back from Portugal? Not sure my wife will be cool with simply putting it checked bags. Figuring 6-12 bottles in total. Ideally, we find a shipper in the Douro Valley but Lisbon is also possible.

I travel with one of these: https://vingardevalise.com/ I have the 12 bottle model, which I use for just six bottles and put my clothes in the other half, and sometimes an extra well wrapped bottle. It works, has been on many trips, and I've never had a broken bottle. So I can recommend it, but I won't say highly, because I think the quality could be better. I've had some of the exterior strap rivets come out, I think something else minor broke, and now the foam is getting a little compressed in spots so I stuff some extra clothes here and there to get better packing.

Shipping back from Portugal is very difficult. A lot of places will tell you you can't do it. One or two places might ship for you, but if you're shipment never makes it, it could be because customs claimed you weren't a licensed importer. It's a gamble. There are some ways to use a licensed importer, but you probably want more than 6-12 bottles to make that worthwhile.

There are other wine shipping luggage options that others will likely mention or recommend, like a soft canvas thing that you put a box with styrofoam in to turn a regular wine shipping box into a suitcase.

[Bert VD]

i have 2 sturdy cardboard wine boxes that hold 2 bottles each and have a divider in them. i warp each bottle with a thin foam sheet and put some little foam blocks above and below the bottle if needed. around those 2 boxes i have about 3cm of high density foam and that way they fit in my normal (no hard shell) suitcase next to my clothes. no problems at all. last time one of the spaces wasn't occupied by a bottle but by a cork oak and that survived the trip as well.

[Mike K.]

I took two bottle carriers on my last trip to Portugal.

One was a ‘Wine Check’ bag, mentioned above. It is a cube shaped padded bag with wheels and a strap. It can be flattened out somewhat and brought along in your suitcase. It is meant to hold a 12 bottle styrofoam shipper you pick up on-site. I’ve used this once and it worked quite well.

I also brought a Pelican case with padded inserts to hold 8 bottles. This is a very heavy duty case that is nearly indestructible. I have brought it on many trips and use it for the more expensive bottles.

[Glenn E.]

I also brought a Pelican case with padded inserts to hold 8 bottles. This is a very heavy duty case that is nearly indestructible. I have brought it on many trips and use it for the more expensive bottles.

I have an 8-bottle Wine Cruzer, which is often mistaken for a Pelican case and in Seattle is always found in over-sized luggage because they assume it is a gun case and give it special handling. Not a bad side effect when it's in fact filled with $4,000+ of old Port!

I have also borrowed a VinGarde Valise like Eric's, and can also vouch for their usability. It's a tough call between the two for me... my Wine Cruzer seems to be much better protection for the bottles, but you only get 8 bottles instead of 12. Both weigh just under 50 lbs when full of wine, which gives you an idea of how much sturdier the Wine Cruzer is. But I've never heard of anyone suffering breakage using a VinGarde Valise, so is the extra sturdiness really necessary?

Tough call for me unless I'm reasonably certain that I won't be bringing back any expensive bottles. In that situation, the VinGarde wins hands down for its extra capacity.

[Eric Ifune]

I just use a horizontal styro commercial shipper holding 15 bottles. I put it in a military canvas bag. It's a bear to lug around but if the bottles are not oversized, 15 bottles weigh exactly 50 lbs. I've used this for years shipping across the Atlantic and Pacific and never had a bottle break. The styro sometimes shatters, but the glass remains intact.

[Andy Velebil]

I just use a horizontal styro commercial shipper holding 15 bottles. I put it in a military canvas bag. It's a bear to lug around but if the bottles are not oversized, 15 bottles weigh exactly 50 lbs. I've used this for years shipping across the Atlantic and Pacific and never had a bottle break. The styro sometimes shatters, but the glass remains intact.

That is why I like re-using EPS foam wine shippers as well. IMO, and based on others I've talked to, EPS protects better than the type of foam used in products such as the Wine Cruzer, etc. EPS foam is "softer" (not sure the correct term so softer will do). Almost everyone I've known who has used the denser foam liners in the pelican style cases have all had at least one broken bottle. While the percentage, in comparison, for the EPS wine shippers is almost zero. It is one of two things that have kept me away from using those harder types. The other being you can only get about 9 bottles because the weight of the empty case is so high.

My favorite is the WineCheck as the extra padding of the exterior shipper, combined with cardboard and EPS foam inside gives it a ton of shock absorbing qualities. And good thermal insulation as well. If it's gonna be hot I chill the bottles first and the thermal mass easily keeps it cold for a day of traveling. And the WineCheck is about 42-44 lbs with 12 bottles. I generally toss in some dirty clothes between the box and the WineCheck, on the inside, for the way home for even more padding and still stay well under airline luggage weight cutoff.

[Glenn E.]

Almost everyone I've known who has used the denser foam liners in the pelican style cases have all had at least one broken bottle. While the percentage, in comparison, for the EPS wine shippers is almost zero. It is one of two things that have kept me away from using those harder types.

I've never had a broken bottle in my Wine Cruzer, and I'd go so far as to say that any breakage is likely user error.

I have heard about people breaking bottles in Wine Cruzers, but every case I've heard of has been someone not properly using the included spacers underneath the bottle to pad it for when the case is set down (or more likely, dropped to the floor). I don't think it's due to the type of foam; rather, it's that the space is taller than a typical bottle (so as to fit more types of bottles) and you have to fill that space if your bottle doesn't or the bottle might shift within the "tube". 2 sizes of spacers are included with the WineCruzer, and when used properly they keep the bottles firmly seated and protected on the bottom.

[Zak Romaszko]

Maybe viewed as foolish but I managed to get 8 bottles in my suitcase with some strategic wrapping and got it back completely fine. Done this several times and never had a problem.

[Eric Menchen]

Maybe viewed as foolish but I managed to get 8 bottles in my suitcase with some strategic wrapping and got it back completely fine. Done this several times and never had a problem.

I did this on my first trip to Porto, equivalent of 10 bottles, but even more as some were smaller. All my wine arrived bottles intact. But waiting for my bag at the airport, I became quite worried when I smelled wine. It came from someone else's bag on the flight, right next to mine on the carousel.

[David Spriggs]

But waiting for my bag at the airport, I became quite worried when I smelled wine. It came from someone else's bag on the flight, right next to mine on the carousel.

Great story!