Douro

It is in Douro that Port Wine is born, the main ambassador of Portuguese wines. What is certain is that in the last decades the Douro table wines have been appreciated and have achieved notoriety all over the world.

The castes cultivated in the region are famous for their secular history, with some castes coming from the Middle Ages. The best varieties for Douro and Port wine production are: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Aragonez (in the region called Tinta Roriz) and Tinto Cão. There are other very important and expressive varieties of the region, such as Tinta Amarela (Trincadeira) and Souzão. The production of white wines is essentially sustained by the planting of varieties such as Malvasia Fina, Gouveio, Rabigato and Viosinho. For the production of Moscatel, the Galician Moscatel variety is planted.

The name “Port Wine” is explained by the fact that the wine is stored and marketed from the port located between the city of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. The wine went down the river Douro in the characteristic boats and aged in the warehouses of Vila Nova de Gaia, since this area presents little variations in temperature during the year.