The day dawned rainy and somewhat chilly (the days preceding had been warm and mostly sunny). We Uber’d over from Vila Nova de Gaia to the Bolsa Palace in Porto to get to the next meeting place to start our next adventure – Douro Valley Tour with Visit to two Vineyards, River Cruise and Lunch at Winery. I knew this was going to be a group tour, but my understanding was that it was going to be a small group. Ok, if you consider 40 strangers “small”. It was on a luxury coach bus, and we were full. Our guide was a chatty young guy who was born in Portugal – I loved that he opened every conversation with “my friends”. The drive up was uneventful, we stopped to stretch our legs in a small town, then a stop at a vineyard Quinta dos Castel Ares where we did a tasting their Touriga Nacional based Rosé, then we were brought to the area where they have lagares (Wine Spectator: Portuguese term for large, open vats or troughs, typically made of stone, in which wine grapes are crushed by foot) that are still in use today. Here we were treated to Olive Oil (Muro Velho – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, made at the vineyard), three different flavours of honey – Chestnut, Heather and Wild Lavender. Interesting “vineyard” stop as we only tasted one wine. Next stop was the location of our lunch, which, unfortunately, was ridiculously underwhelming. We were given three choices, but most of the dishes came out missing the risotto and when it did arrive, it was unceremoniously put on our plates (I imagine, somewhat like in prison) and it was undercooked…more like Rice Crispies, than risotto. The Port tasting, somewhat saved the experience as their House Sommelier while abrupt, was entertaining. The end of the road was Pinhão where we got on a boat for a half hour tour up-river, then we turned around and came back. The weather kept most of us in the indoor seating area, however, I did manage to go outside and get a few decent pictures. I feel the necessity to go back so that I can perhaps drive deeper into the region and get a better feel for the terraced vineyards and the overall flavour of the area.
