Vindima 2014 1st October 2014

It seemed like a good idea at the time to set up this blog so I could record my port wine adventures as they happened. However this time we arrived in Porto on Sunday and now it is Wednesday and I haven't written anything yet. It is time to put that right.

Sunday evening we made it to our hotel by 5 pm after an uneventful journey. After a quick chill out to recover from travelling we headed out for a quick stroll before our evening meal (jantar). We were trying to track the source of some drumming we had heard from our hotel room but it seems it was just someone practising in an upstairs apartment. Eventually we took a table in one of our favourite restaurants, Lagostim. They seemed well pleased to see us again and it wasn't long before we were enjoying our first port of the trip. It was a white port under Rozés's São Pedro das Aguias label. Of course we finished the proceedings with a tawny reserve from Cálem.

On Monday morning we decided to try to find Churchill's caves, which had eluded

View from Churchill's

us on previous visits. This time we found it easily thanks to a large banner outside. The tour in French was interesting but at the tasting we were disappointed by the dryness of all three of the ports we had whilst recognising that this was the deliberate house style.

Wandering on up the hill we discovered that Graham's had been revamped so felt that we had better check out the new tour and tasting there. The tour was thorough and informative so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a great introduction to the mysteries of the port wine world. We opted for the superior ruby and tawny tastings so that was another excellent six ports under the belt.

After we emerged Dot spotted some people walking along with a Cockburn's bag.

In the heart of Cockburn's

It has only been rarely that we have been able to visit Cockburn's so we took a devious walk around Gaia until eventually we found ourselves in the reception area. We killed the half hour wait for the next tour in English with an excellent white port having opted to taste a combination of six ruby and tawny ports after our tour. Sadly the tour was a disappointment compared with our last visit when we were shown the vintage bottles in the garrafeira. However the ports we tasted were excellent.

By this time it was around four in the afternoon, we were well oiled and feeling peckish. So we had a chouriço cooked outside at the Taberninha do Manel washed down with a small bottle of red wine. The accompanying rye bread was satisfyingly wholesome yet soft.

After getting back to our room and freshening up we didn't feel like a huge meal so we opted for a bacalhau dish and a vinho verde at a simple nearby restaurant that we had enjoyed previously. Both were good. As we couldn't face another course we settled up there and then and headed home for an early night.

Tuesday morning was time to catch the train to Pinhão.  On the journey up we had a great conversation with a well travelled Swedish tour guide who was taking a group of forty to Regua to catch a cruise back to Porto. After settling in at

Quinta de la Rosa we headed into town for cash and supplies. Somehow we ended up having a couple of excellent ports at Real Companhia Velha's Quinta das Carvalhas. By the time we got back we were hot enough for a good swim in la Rosa's pool. After an appetising glass of Offley's white port it was down to Cais da Foz for a delicious meal followed by a digestive tawny of course. When we got back to the Quinta treading was well underway and we were badgered into joining in. Interestingly in the lagar we bumped into Roy Hersh of For the Love of Port fame. I don't think there can be another person alive who has tasted so many different vintage ports. After all the exercise it was time to open and try the Quinta das Carvalhas ten year old and very good it was too.

We had a quiet morning today as we had a lunchtime appointment at Quinta da

Azelujo at Quinta da Foz

Foz. There the winemakers Pedro and Philipe took us through the range of wines

and introduced their newly launched ports. All were excellent and I hope they will be able to play a role in the portfolio of db importo. We were then joined by Carlos the marketing guy for an excellent outdoors lunch of typical Portuguese fair, which was made all the more enjoyable by the good conversation and excellent wines. We didn't get back to Le Rosa until four by which time it was so hot that a long swim was called for to cool down and work off the boozy lunch. In the evening we popped down to Cais da Foz again but could only manage one helping between us as we were still rather full from lunch.