For The Love Of Port

Please see the just finished blog entry on the homepage.

Add any of your own great spots, here too.

I think that I have been in Azeitoneira do Porto... your description of the contents brought back memories!

It is a great shop.

Anyway, this no longer resides on the front page, but you can click on the BLOG there and can see old posts ... for those that visit this thread in the future and want to know where to look.

Managed to visit Azeitoneira do Porto twice earlier this week and quite liked it. Bought a bottle as well as some olive oil and jam to bring home. I also bought some bread and olives as a snack and it was quite good.

I tried looking for AVEPOD but unfortunately couldn't find it.

Here's a link to another thread on the subject. Just to make searching a bit easier. I was in Porto last week and next to the shops that I always check out (most of which are also mentioned by Carlos in the other thread), I visited two I hadn't been before:

Wine O'Clock
Located in Matosinhos, so a bit out of the way. A good selection of both Douro wines and Port, but I expected a bit more so was slightly disappointed. Some good prices though on Graham and Warre of the '80's and '90's. We bought a bottle of Warre 1994 here which was wonderful.

Garrafeira Augusto
In Foz. Also a bit off the beaten path, but in the neighbourhood of some good restaurants, so you can combine your visit with a meal (we ate at Shis which has a stunning location and very nice sushi). Both the selection and prices are slightly better than Wine O'Clock. There are some rare collector's items here, but they aren't for sale, unfortunately. Not that I think I could afford a bottle of 1955 Niepoort, but anyway... We bought a bottle of Ferreirinha Colheita 1998 (Douro DOC) that came at 34 euro after discount. A very good price.

We also went to the Azeitoneira do Porto, but didn't think there was anything worth buying in the wine selection. We did bring back two cheeses though, and it was fun to hear the owner speak passionately about his cheeses.

Markus D. wrote:Managed to visit Azeitoneira do Porto twice earlier this week and quite liked it. Bought a bottle as well as some olive oil and jam to bring home. I also bought some bread and olives as a snack and it was quite good.

I tried looking for AVEPOD but unfortunately couldn't find it.

AVEPOD is very hard to find if the doors are closed as there is no signs on the outside building.

Andy Velebil wrote:

Markus D. wrote:Managed to visit Azeitoneira do Porto twice earlier this week and quite liked it. Bought a bottle as well as some olive oil and jam to bring home. I also bought some bread and olives as a snack and it was quite good.

I tried looking for AVEPOD but unfortunately couldn't find it.

AVEPOD is very hard to find if the doors are closed as there is no signs on the outside building.

The last time I was there, there was a small sign on the door but it spells out the entire name: Associação de Viticultores Engarrafadores dos Vinhos do Porto e Douro (Association of Port and Douro Wine Producers and Bottlers).

Start at the Tourist Bureau on the corner of Rua da Alfandega and Rua do Infante Dom Henrique. Head toward the river on Rua da Alfandega, and take a left on Rua da Fonte Taurina. The address is Rua da Fonte Taurina 89. As I recall, it is the 4th door on the right (the river side) counting from Rua da Alfandega.

Almost forgot to mention: there is now an IVDP shop in their building as well. The selection is not gigantic, but you will find some good VP's there and the prices on some of them were very reasonable. The neighbouring 'Vini Portugal' also has a shop, but that was closed when we passed it.

Glenn E. wrote:Start at the Tourist Bureau on the corner of Rua da Alfandega and Rua do Infante Dom Henrique. Head toward the river on Rua da Alfandega, and take a left on Rua da Fonte Taurina. The address is Rua da Fonte Taurina 89. As I recall, it is the 4th door on the right (the river side) counting from Rua da Alfandega.

Google needs to get a smaller car, or a scooter, for their street view. You can virtually get within a block or so via Google maps, but no street view for Rua da Fonte Taurina. I wanted to find the restaurant across the street too. Oh, and the Pestana is incorrectly shown on the other side of the square.

Eric Menchen wrote:Oh, and the Pestana is incorrectly shown on the other side of the square.

Yeah, I noticed that too. It always amazes me when major landmarks like that are placed incorrectly.

By the way - the street view for the shop is correct, sort of. It shows the back door into AVEPOD's basement/tasting room which is off of Cais da Estiva. Most days that door isn't open, but if they're having a tasting or if someone has rented the room then you might be able to get into AVEPOD from there. Also, I'm pretty sure that the back door isn't labeled - the only reason I even know it's there is because we wandered by one day when it was open and Maria Theresa was downstairs.