We are headed today to the Duoro River Valley, the largest port producing region in the world. This is the only place true port can be made sort of like "champagne" only allowed in a certain region of France. We map out our route to our hotel, Hotel Regua Duoro, in the town of Peso da Regua. It is at the beginning of 17 miles of the prettiest area of the Duoro Valley. It is a pretty drive as we get into the Serra do Màrao mountain range. At one point, we get off the freeway and take the scenic way to Peso Regua. The road is twisty and winding with beautiful vistas of green forests and terraced vineyards. We arrive at our hotel right on the Duoro River. We both have rooms with views of the river. Dave's and my room is actually a suite with a separate living room and balcony outside. The rooms are nothing fancy but spacious and nice. It is after 1:00 and we are all hungry so we walk a block or so to a cafe type place and get some lunch. Kathy gets the signature sandwich here in Portugal called "Francesinhas." It can vary in its contents but the basic sandwich is several kinds of lunch meat - ham, chicken, beef, and what looks like head cheese - wrapped in some kind of bread wrap thing and covered with melted cheese and a tomato sauce which I read has beer in it. (See picture.) Quite a sandwich! We all sample it. I'm glad she has ordered it because now I don't have to.
After lunch, we drive along the road along the river and look for a quinta, which is a port vineyard where one can taste port, recommended by Rick Steves. We never would have found this place on our own. We turn off the main road and drive up a narrow, winding road with cobblestones the last mike or so. Kathy does a great job of driving on this road. We come to the Quinta do Panascal which is one of three properties owned by the port wine shippers Fonseca. This company has been run by the same family for generations. We do a half hour audio tour where we can walk out in the vineyard and listen to information about the history of port, how port grapes are grown, how port is made and the different types of port. As with wine or beer or chocolate, there is much to be learned. It is amazing how they can grow grapes on these steep mountainsides. All the work of growing and harvesting the grapes is done by hand. It is a warm day! After the audio tour, we return to the tasting room and have three different kinds of Fonsexa port - a white port, a ruby port (Bin 27) and a ten year old tawny port.
We drive back to town, have some relaxing time (Dave reports that the pool water is quite cold and then go to dinner at the estuarine in the hotel which has a panoramic view of the river. All in all, it has been a fun day.
Douro River Valley. Note terraced vineyards.
Karhy's franeschina?? sandwich
Port wine grapes
Terraced mountainside - amazing!
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