Prior to visiting Porto, I was a port virgin, but it would have felt wrong to visit without trying it… Or better yet, trying a lot of it. Porto itself is one of the prettiest European cities I have ever visited, with its winding river, towering bridges, long boats and colourful buildings.
Porto’s Brewing Heritage
The story of port dates back to the 17th century when England was at War with France, and, due to sanctions, needed new sources of wine. The trouble is, England is a bit further away from Portugal than France, so brewers sourcing wine from the Douro valley began adding brandy to create a stronger, sweet elixir that could withstand long journeys.
You’ll quickly notice that many of the port lodges in Porto don’t have particularly Portuguese names; Cockburns, Graham’s, Churchills, etc. That’s because savvy British merchants began to move into Porto and set up their own lodges to brew and age the wine that came down from the Douro valley on the boats pictured above.
Touring a Port Lodge
There are plenty of Port lodges to choose from, many of which are located in Vila Nova de Gaia, the town on the south bank of the Douro. We settled on Cockburn’s, because there was space at the time we wanted (in English) and the tickets were reasonably priced at 26€ for the classic tour and tasting. You can check them out here, or go for another of the old port lodges like Taylors or Grahams.
After arriving, we browsed the small museum in the reception area before our guide arrived and things got going. On that note, be sure to choose the English tour (unless you speak Portuguese, of course); otherwise, the whole experience could be challenging.
Our guide was an incredibly knowledgeable lady, and the whole tour was well put together. As we meandered through the vast stores of ageing wine, she explained both the history and the process behind brewing port. We got to smell plenty of oak barrels and even see how they are made and repaired in the workshop. They also ran us through the selection process and mixing for each year’s batch.
The whole tour was very chill, as you can see, I don’t exactly dress smartly, but the classy Portuguese didn’t seem to mind.
How It’s Made
I am by no means an expert on Port, but I will attempt to impart some of the knowledge I picked up on the tour because it’s a pretty interesting process. Port starts its life like any other wine; grapes are picked in the Douro Valley, crushed (often by foot) and filtered before going into large fermenting tanks.
The next step is what makes the difference: when the wine has reached the ideal sugar level, instead of allowing it to continue fermenting, brandy is added. Killing off the yeasts that cause fermentation. This is why port is so sweet… And strong! About 30% of the mix is brandy, making the end product about 17.5% alcohol.
Port wine isn’t usually bottled up right away–in fact, Portuguese wine laws mandate a minimum of two years in the barrel before port can be sold. As you can see above, those barrels come in all shapes and sizes, with the higher-end 10-year-old tawnies ageing in small barrels for more contact with the oak to enrich the flavour. But small barrels come at a hefty cost–higher surface area means a lot of the wine evaporates, according to our guide, almost 50% of the original wine can evaporate in over 10 years.
Wine Tasting
Here it is, the moment you have all been waiting for… Or at least the moment I had been waiting for since before the tour began (I’m not an alcoholic–it was probably after midday). The tour ends at a big bar with tables for your own cosy tasting, where we were given three wines each as we had selected that option at the start–you could have gone for five or more.
Don’t stress, if you like a specific vintage after the tasting, you can buy a proper glass, or a bottle, or a case, not that they try and upsell that energetically. Gen was keen on the 10-year-old Tawny, while I enjoyed the Special Reserve.
Where to Stay
As we only had two nights in Porto, we decided to stay as centrally as possible, ending up at the aptly named ‘Central House,’ about a minute’s walk from the river’s northern banks in the old town.
The main things we wanted to see were centred around the river–port lodges, bridges, river cruises and tonnes of restaurants. Plus, it was only a short walk to the famous Porto Cathedral and São Bento train station.
Vila Nova de Gaia, the town to the south of the river, where most of the port lodges are located, is equally pretty. There are hotels for all budgets, from resort-style five stars like the Yeatman and Hilton to cosy Airbnb’s and a few hostels.
Dinner and Drinks
After a couple of hours walking around a port lodge and tasting plenty of it, we were pretty hungry and headed for an early dinner back in the old town. There are no shortage of restaurants serving traditional Portuguese delights like Pastéis de Bacalhau, Francesinha, calamari, anchovies, grilled octopus and more.
We settled on Adega Bebe-Se Mal, a cute restaurant with seating on the street close to where we were staying. They served a whole heap of grilled seafood from a tiny kitchen, impressively fast. Of course, there is a port menu as well…
Porto By Train
With three of its six iconic bridges carrying trains across the Douro River, there is no better way to get around. On our last afternoon, we headed to the famous São Bento station to catch a train to Campanha and then on to Lisbon.
The whole journey took around close to 3 hours as we hadn’t chosen the fast train, which does it in about 3 hours 40. Seeing the sun set over Atlantic beaches, it was a pleasant journey that took us into Lisbon into the centre of Lisbon by the evening.
