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Located along the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.

Port wine (also known as Vinho do Porto, Porto, and often simply port) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine though it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties

Douro Line

The wine received its name, "port", in the later half of the 17th century from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe. The Douro valley where port wine is produced was defined and established as a protected region, or appellation in 1756, making it the oldest defined and protected wine region in the world. Chianti (1716) and Tokaj (1730) have older demarcation but no regulation associated and thus, in terms of regulated demarcated regions, Porto is the oldest.The reaches of the valley of the Douro River in northern Portugal have a microclimate that is optimal for cultivation of olives, almonds, and especially grapes important for making port wine. The region around Pinhão and São João da Pesqueira is considered to be the centre of port production, and is known for its picturesque quintas—farms clinging on to almost vertical slopes dropping down to the river.

Port is produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region. The wine produced is then fortified by the addition of a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente in order to stop the fermentation, leaving residual sugar in the wine, and to boost the alcohol content. The fortification spirit is sometimes referred to as brandy but it bears little resemblance to commercial brandies. The wine is then stored and aged, often in barrels stored in a cave (pronounced kahv and meaning "cellar" in Portuguese) as is the case in Vila Nova de Gaia, before being bottled.

Wine tourism has become increasingly popular in Portugal

Signs emblazoned with English names dominate the rooftops of lodges on the upper areas of the steep bank, while the home town producers' modest lodges are more often found tucked into the lower slopes.

Vila Nova de Gaia is just across the Duoro River from Porto (Oporto). This is the real Port Wine town; it's where the lodges of the historic port wine producers are strung out along the "ribeira" or waterfront with their caves, aging tanks and tasting rooms. They're all here because in 1225 King Alfonso gave Vila Nova de Gaia town status, then quickly handed it off to the aristocracy because the bishops of Oporto were charging unreasonable shipping charges on the wines.

Despite the "new-sounding" name, Gaia sits on a pre-Roman hamlet. It has a longer history than you'd think when folks call it a "suburb" of Porto.Porto

While port is produced from grapes grown in the Douro valley, until 1986 it could only be exported from Portugal from Vila Nova de Gaia near Porto, Portugal's second-largest city.

Porto

Traditionally, the wine was taken downriver in flat-bottom boats called 'barcos rabelos‘, to be processed and stored.

The Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia

However, in the 1950s and 1960s, several hydroelectric power dams were built along the river, ending this traditional conveyance down the river. Currently, the wine is transported from the vineyards by tanker trucks and the barcos rabelos are only used for racing and other displays.

The Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia

Porto

Port wine is typically richer, sweeter, heavier, and possesses a higher alcohol content than unfortified wines. This is caused by the addition of distilled grape spirits (aguardente similar to brandy) to fortify the wine and halt fermentation before all the sugar is converted to alcohol and results in a wine that is usually 18 to 20% alcohol.

Each port wine company had a ship in the water to advertise their wine

Porto

The Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia

The Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia

Vila Nova de Gaia

Vila Nova de Gaia

Vila Nova de Gaia

The waterfront, home to a few rabelos, the traditional boats once used to get the wine from quintas (wine estates) of the Alto Douro to Porto. Due to the addition of a couple of dams to the river, these days just about the only time you're likely to see them in full sail is at the festival of Sao Joao (Saint John) on June 23rd or 24th, when, wind permitting, they race from the mouth of the Douro to the Ponte Dom Luis.PortoPorto

Porto

The city of Porto is one of the most visited cities in Europe, hosting more than a million tourists a year

Porto

Europe is home to many of the world’s greatest wine growing nations and whilst France, Spain and Italy might be the first countries that spring to mind there are a whole host of others that produce some spectacular wines. Right now there are lots of exciting wineries appearing from across Europe’s lesser known wine-producing countries, like those of Greece and Romania; but of all Europe’s wine producers one of the most over-looked is Portugal.

There are lots of different regions producing their own specialty wines across Portugal, each using its location and the unique conditions of its region to make a unique wine.

Porto

Porto

Vila Nova de Gaia

Port has been used in the past as a healing agent in earlier remedies. The British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger was given port for gout as a boy. He began at the age of 14 (1773) with a bottle a day according to J. Ehrman (1969): "The Younger Pitt”. A recurring theme in the novels of Anthony Trollope is the partiality of respectable elderly ladies for port which they excuse on the grounds that it is "medicinal". However, it has been widely documented in the medical literature that alcohol consumption can trigger attacks of gout.

Dressed in the Portuguese student's cape and Spanish sombrero hat, just like The Don, a charming “Don” will guide you through the cellars explaining Porto Wine history and how the wine ages and matures through time.Later, in a stylish Tasting Room, Rubies and Tawnies can be enjoyed in a special moment.

The cellars are long cool, dark warehouses, their thick granite walls and high ceilings helping to keep out the heat and maintain an even temperature throughout the year. 

This ensures that the wines age slowly, gradually acquiring the sublime complex flavours and aromas of maturity. Wines in the cellars age either in cask or in vat. Casks are seasoned oak barrels usually holding around 630 litres of wine. Cask ageing encourages contact between the wine and the wood and intensifies the ageing process. The rich and complex aromas of maturity, such as notes of butterscotch, walnut and fine oak wood, therefore develop more quickly in a cask.

While Port matures in wood, a small proportion is lost each year to evaporation. The part which evaporates – commonly known as the ‘angel’s share’ – is composed of moisture and spirit.  As a result, the aromatic components which remain in the wine gradually become more concentrated as it ages. This accounts in part for the very rich and concentrated flavours which can be found in the older Ports.  The evaporation of the spirit causes the development of the black ’Angel’s share fungus’, Baudoinia compniacensis, on the roof tiles of the lodges, making it easy to see from the air where the wine is stored.

Founded in 1790 in London Sandeman is the world leading Porto and Sherry wine brand, widely recognized by its famous icon trade mark, the Sandeman Don (1928), a symbol of quality, heritage and prestige.Proudly facing the Historical Centre of Oporto, in an 1811 granite building, overlooking the Douro River is The Sandeman Museum

The Sandeman Museum takes you back to London, where George Sandeman, a young Scotsman, decided to start dealing with Porto and Sherry wines. An impressive collection of paintings, photographs, ceramics, antique bottles, and other memorable items tells you a fascinating story through an interesting exhibition.

In a former 16th-century convent, George Sandeman of Scotland established Sandeman in 1790.

Originally founded in 1780, the company became notorious in the 1920s for its ad campaigns, which featured sex appeal in ways never before seen in the port wine industry. (Satyrs carrying gleeful, scantily clad flappers off into the forest for a glass of port or whatever . . . .) The Sandeman "Don," created in 1928, and inspired by the cape-clad troubadours of Coimbra, has been viewed as one of the most compelling and successful images in the world of advertising. Sandeman "Splash," wherein white port is used as a mixer with virtually anything, is the campaign of the minute. The House of Sandeman also operates a museum that traces the history of port wine and of the company. You can purchase Sandeman products on the premises.

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On the south bank of the Douro River lies the city of Gaia where you can visit the cellars of virtuous Port wine, produced in Alto Douro Wine Region, the oldest demarcated region in the world.

Porto at night

Ponte Arrábida

Text: Internet Pictures: Internet Gabriela Cristescu Sanda Foişoreanu Copyrights of the photos belong to each photographer

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound: Amália Rodrigues - Fadinho Da Ti Maria Benta; Abana a Casaca; Malhão De S. Simão