For The Love Of Port

We'll be in Porto the first weekend in October staying in the Ribeira. We'd like to do one tasting, is there somewhere that particularly stands out?

Do you want to taste tawnies or VP or both? High end or more affordable? And do you want a good tour to learn about the production and history, or just taste? And is a meal also a consideration?

Yes, a big range depending on what you want to do.

For a range of Tawny and VP, you generally can't go wrong with Graham's Lodge. Book "The Vintage Room" for your tasting. And a plus is the restaurant there, Vinum, is worth booking for after your tasting.

For purely tawny's (Colheita and Tawny's with an indication of age), then the Kopke shop on the river front probably has the oldest and most complete line up that you can easily get by the glass. Book the upstairs table/room.

If you want to tour a lodge, I recommend Ramos Pinto because the tour includes their old HQ building which is now a museum. You have to book early in the day (or perhaps reserve by phone/online?) in order to select your language, because they provide tours in many different languages. If you just show up, the next tour's language may not be useful to you.

Otherwise I agree with Andy - Graham's lodge for VP and tawny (and food), or Kopke if you want a wider selection and older tawnies.

I am going to go with another suggestion and recommend Cockburn's lodge. A great place where you can see actual coopers at work on the barrels. They have a nice tasting room and a top notch VP selection. Their tawnies fly a bit under the radar but both their 10 and 20 YO are really tasty.

And while it isn't the best place for drinking, if you want to learn about the Douro, grape varieties, etc., the newish visitor center at Cálem is quite elaborate.

I agree with the other comments made, although I haven't been to Ramos Pinto and should go to compare it to Sandeman, which I went to on one of my last trips. Graham's is a great all-around option, and has a higher end tasting flight if you are interested in paying more for some better Ports. Cockburns had an interesting photo exhibit on one visit, and Cálem had a exhibition of Goya works, so something temporary might also be a factor to consider.

i would reccomend Taylors or Cockburns as a first lodge to visit. i liked the tours as well as the tasting.