Where Port Reigns, Unfortified Wines Undergo a Stylistic Evolution

In 2005, my wife and I drove from Oporto to Pinhão. We expected that, as in Sonoma and Napa, we'd be able to pop in to tasting rooms along the route. At more than one location, we had to ring the front door bell and were met with confused proprietors. It was a wonderful experience. Authentic. On that trip we thought we'd be tasting Port, which we did. But we discovered Portuguese wine. What a treat, and still quite a secret. Would love to go back.

I grew up in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, where sherry is made, and my first job was as a tour guide at Williams & Humbert, the makers of Dry Sack. The problem in Jerez as in Oporto is the decreasing popularity of fortified wines. In Jerez, the answer has been mostly to increase the production of brandy, which has a good market at all price levels. By the way, not all port is sweet. Try white port ("porto branco"); a number of houses (i.e., Warre) make a very good one. Serve it chilled like a manzanilla or a fino; it is not as dry as either of these sherries, but not as sweet as other ports. Salud, indeed!

Why are you calling them "still wines"? That term is used in sparkling wine regions, where the opposite of a sparkling wine is a still wine. The term "dry wines" should be used here, since the Douro is traditionally known for making sweet wines.

Quinta de Tourais. Fernando Coelho winemaker.

Didn't Eric Asimov just do a piece about better wine writing? What in the world is a "tightly coiled" wine? And what is "opaque texture"? - opacity is not a texture in anything, let alone wine.

We were amazed by the diverse and good wines of Portugal when we stayed in Lisbon a few years ago. Thank you for this great article about the Douro valley, which is on our travel list.

In the late 90s, at a reception in Boston, I overhead Gov. Weld saying wines from Portugal were the best and that he'd prefer that people didn't know about it. A secret passion. Well, I've never looked back. Incidentally, I enjoyed a red in a restaurant in Luxembourg that I'll never forget. Sadly, the place closed down.

A magnificent tribute to both the table wines and the ports of Portugal. Small tasting note: when my wife and i were in Porto a couple of years ago we stopped into a port wine shop during happy hour. This was an p scale establishment that had bottles on the shelves dating back fifty or sixty years and at predictable prices. We ordered a nice port, in our budget only because of the half=price special, and enjoyed it thoroughly, The surprise was the cocktail snacks they seved with it: gummy bears. Yes, the American jellied candies. They were to bad, though I am not a qualified port connoisseur.

I spent Christmas of 2017 in the Duoro valley and can attest to the fact that pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the region. Drive up esrly morning and you will get to see the mist as the sun rises and it is breathtaking. Port wine has evolved significantly in the last decade or so and makes quite a good companion to a wide range of flavours. I toured a bunch of vineyards and they were all spectacular- definitely try the olive oil, honey which they also sell on most vineyards. #TripOfALifetime

Some years ago I was sitting in a little Toronto restaurant bar enjoying another patron's recommendation: a refreshing white from the Douro region. After we'd finished dinner- and now all friends, the owner took us to the basement for a tour of his wine cellar. When I returned to Charleston I searched for months for that wine, any white from Douro without success. Thanks to this article's reminder I'll take up my quest again!

@ Shiv New York I hope you would not have to wait to long, to drink all the Douro table wines to your desire. As for myself, I shall stick to traditional unadulterated port.

How refreshing. A producer who say s “ My first rule: I do not like fruity wines,” Mr. Niepoort said.“ It’s no wonder that the generation of Americans who grew up drinking Coca-Cola think that wines need to be sweet. I look firward to seeing if my shop can get these

Wine-tasting in the Douro region is a great day trip out of Porto, and not too expensive. Take the morning train out of Porto to the charming town of Pinhao (r/t about 15 euro), and jump in there. We went in early May, and rose bushes and orange trees were flowering everywhere. The perfumed air and glorious landscape were, well, absolutely trippy in the best possible way. At the end of the day, grab some tapas at the contemporary restaurant at Quinta de la Rosa, before hitting the 6pm train back. The food, service and view are wonderful. Back in Porto, grab a late seafood dinner in the commercial port city of Matosinhos, where chefs grill local fish and squid on sidewalk barbecues. It was one of our best days exploring Northern Portugal.

Eric, could you list some interesting producers for us to look for?

Good article. Personally, I’m going to wait a few years before wines from the Douro become more than an occasional pour for me. I’ve generally found the reds in particular to hew to the “international” style, i.e. high alcohol and stewed fruit flavor. On the plus side, they’re often well priced, so it’s less expensive to take a flyer than on a California red (also often high alcohol and stewed fruit, even among the most expensive ones).