Wine tasting for a beer Gal

Yesterday’s adventure was so big and crazy….so here we go on the journey!

We had booked a wine tasting trip to the Duoro Valley region, I know; wine for a beer lover!

Our day began at 6am, to arrive at the meeting point before 8am…A bus ride with the locals and a deserted city Centre! Not a coffee in sight!

We were being collected by a driver in a van, maximum of eight people…

There were 6 of us, at this stage, we were collecting another 2 on our way! I was kindly given the front seat…as at this hour I get car sick…so had full view of the motorways and countryside as we sped (130kph) east towards the Spanish border…Dressed for Portos predicted high of 23 degrees! (not a wise decision as it turned out)

Span bridges on route, about 1.5 hours to the village of Peso da Regua, where we were collecting our final two tour buddies…and a coffee (and Portuguese tart) stop!

After our coffee, and restroom stop we wandered across the walking bridge .. looking east to the Duoro Valley wine region…and Spanish border (100kms away)

Soaking up the sights!

We were ready for the day, 2 Kiwis, 3 Irish, 2 Dutch, and a girl from Florida, and our Portuguese driver…quite a combination!

What we didn’t realise, was the cool Atlantic influence of Porto was behind us as we had tunnelled (3.5kms of tunnel) through the mountains into the Duoro Valley, and the temperatures had risen by 10 degrees, we were in the heatwave zone!

We left this town and wound along the regional roads to our first destination, a local winery…high on a hillside…this area is all hillsides and the grapes for the port wines famous for this area grow on steep slopes…

We arrived (after a mountain goat climb) at the Panascal winery…with temperatures soaring towards the 40 degree mark!

Walked up to the terrace through a canopy of pea plants!

And looked down…over the low brick wall

Stone and Slate, greenery covering the buildings…

And the port wine tasting glasses (three each) set up on the terrace…at 10am in the morning? Even for a wine lover, that’s a bit of a push in 40 degrees! I shared (actually gave) mine…sipping on my water!

Port wine, is quite sweet…and heavy…and very much the pride of this wine region! A small tour of the distillery (no longer used)

The stomping vats…where the grapes, after being hand picked (they still are), were loaded into these vats and stomped (by feet) for hours…still 15% of port wines are produced with feet!

It is then stored in these barrels for up to 18 months (depending on the level of fortification they need) …. The longer the stronger! Port wines have up to 22% alcohol content.

A glance over the side (as close as this vertically challenged head would take) before we loaded back into the (air- conditioned) van to head towards Pinhão….and our cruise on the river…

It was hot…van now reading 42 degrees outside…so a bit of water time was welcome! I had already turned my jeans into shorts…rolling them up above my knees, and our driver had changed into his T Shirt and shorts!

We were left in the hands of another passionate Portuguese chap…who expelled his knowledge and anecdotes for the hour cruise…

This time under the bridges…and yes there was a slightly cooler feel!

Fantastic views of the terraced grapevines…through this national heritage section of the Duoro river … with water so clean you could drink it (they say) in emergencies!

Long boat cruises passing us by…and creating that rocking sensation in our little boat!

And our treat for the cruise, a port wine famous cocktail! Surprisingly, with lemon, mint, ice and tonic water, this was quite delicious! And one I could drink…

The vintage train chugging along the hillside…in light of the temperature, I was glad that this excursion was booked out…as an unconditioned train ride in this heat would have been unbearable!

From Pinhao, we wound our way up into the mountains…

Stopping at a lookout point back over from where we had been!

Perched on the wall…for a moment in time!!!

To our lunch destination…a garden cafe in another family owned vineyard…again exuberant hosts…glasses of port wine tasting and bottles of sparking and still water !!! With a theee course lunch…nibbles, meat and smashed potatoes and a “port” wine cake!!

Another tour of their distillery, which was airless and hot…I did need to sit, as I felt my blood pressure drop in the heat, so retreated to the garden, to wait for the rest of the crew!

By now it was 3.30pm and we once again loaded into the van to head back to Porto, dropping of the 2 Dutch crew on the way and hitting the carpark (motorway) within 3 kms of the city centre!

Today was a public holiday in Porto….culminating in the Festival of St John…the biggest party of the year….doubled with Portugal playing a World Cup (soccer) game beginning at 6pm live (on big screens) all through town! 1 million Portuguese descend on the city centre for this festival and most of the streets are closed to vehicles!

So needless to say we were driving back into chaos! We couldn’t get anywhere near our departure point and were dropped somewhere near a metro (train) stop…

As you can imagine…I was hanging out for a nice cold beer (having only had water all day) and the first street cafe…there we were, us and the girl from Florida! and then the young couple from Ireland walked past and joined us for a bit! Camino vibes!!!

As one is not enough… Kevin switched to Rose…and the generous full glass was a surprise!! There was cheering up and down the street as Portugal racked up the goals, and everyone was carrying plastic hammers…hitting people on the head (this is a festival tradition evidently) and if you get hit it means good luck! Kevin wearing his Portugal hat got lots of good luck!!!

And last but not least, the smell of BBQ sardines…a Portuguese tradition… very smoky and very smelly…

We got kicked off our table around 8pm as they wanted to start serving dinner (sardines!) so we said goodbye to our new friends and ploughed though the crowds (on foot) in the general direction of our accommodation (we thought) But ended up in the middle of a huge square…with thousands of football fans watching the closing stages on big screens!

Reset…we managed to get outside the street closure zone…and get an uber…by now needing more food! Most of the cafes near us were all closing…but found another Indian one and ate at 9pm…. Before finally reaching our flat and crashing for the night, just in time for the fireworks to start … right outside our house…in our neighbours backyards!