We are in the town of Vila Nova de Gaia strolling around the banks of River Duero. The walkway is filled with people strolling around taking in some Vitamin D, kids are playing in the park, some people selling jewelry and wooden objects on the street… In the picture below Papa and Carolina haggle on the price of bracelets… 1 for 5€ was the price, 2 for 8€. After some back and forth Papa gets her 3 for 5€!

On the other side of the street they have several wine cellars to do different tastings, we decided to go with the most famous of the Porto wine cellars Sandeman.

As we wait for our tour to begin we decided to sit at the patio and try a couple drinks. I chose a Sangria made with Ruby Porto wine, was pretty nice. Marco decided on a drink with white Porto, Carolina of course chooses Coca-Cola which comes in a bottle (a delicious and expected treat of being in Europe).

We then head over to the cellar for our tour.
We are greeted by our tour guide who is dressed in a hat and cape just like their logo.

1st thing we talk about is what makes Porto wine different and special… Some say “Fortified” I said “Sweet”. This is what I learned from the guide:
1. Fermentation for Porto wine is 2 days which is why it’s very sweet. Regular wine ferments in 5-7 days.
2. When Porto wine is sold it has 20% alcohol content, regular wine is 12-15%.
3. There are 4 categories of Porto wine: white, ruby, tawny and vintage.

White grapes make the white Porto, it’s sweet, fruity and fresh. Mostly used with aperitifs. Served nice and chill definitely will help open your appetite.

Tawny and Ruby Porto wines are made with red grapes.

The most interesting of them of course is the vintage wines. I learned several things:
1. Vintage Porto wine is special. It’s not blended, it’s a one harvest grape. From an exceptional harvest year.
2. Only vintage Porto wine can age in the bottle, has to age minimum 12 years, best 100 years or more! Other Porto wines age in oak barrels and dont get better with age.
3. vintage bottles Always have to be kept in horizontal position. Before drinking need to keep 24 hrs in vertical position. Then once opened you have to decant it before drinking, and you must drink whole bottle as with contact with air it will just turn your fine vintage wine into a very expensive vinegar. It’s very intense flavor.
4. The best decade for Vintage Porto is the 50s. Best single years 1937 and 1994.

Then we learned about the Sandeman logo. It’s a silhouette of a tall man, all black, wearing a cape, hat and holding a wine glass as you can see in the picture below.

So they call him “El Don” which in English would be translated as “Mister“. He is holding a glass of Porto wine in his hand. Because of their affiliation with Spanish Sherry wine from Jerez de la Frontera he is wearing the Spanish Sombrero. And he is wearing a traditional Portuguese student cape that was most popular in the region of Cumbria.

We then walk through lighted murals that show pics of the actual vineyards, the grapes, harvesting… Followed by a short film explaining more details of the grapes, the harvest time, the bottling… Very interesting!

And then we proceed to the tasting room where we got to sample a white Porto and a Tawny Porto.

The white wine is called “Apitiv”. It smells delicious, it’s fruity, and refreshing. Would pair up well with something salty like cheese. As its name suggests its the before the meal wine. My whole family liked it, including Carolina who we let have a sip too. I definitely would want to eat it with a slice of cheese and some nuts and maybe salty raisins, served really chilled.

The next is a Tawny red which has been aged in an oak barrel for 8 years. She said it would go well with a salty cheese or with an apple pie. The family has mixed reviews on this one. I don’t particular care for it, it’s very sweet for my liking, it’s a dessert type wine, maybe with that pie she said or with chocolate (a chili chocolate! Or a sea salt one to tapper the sweetness of the wine).

It was definitely a nice tour, I learned a lot from this very special and worldly known wine!

Off to the next adventure!!