Traveling with the SilverFox Wine tasting in Porto

I think I have mentioned before that we like to go wine tasting in the different countries and regions we visit. And Porto was no exception.

Porto wines known as port goes as far back as when the Romans inhabited this land. The vineyards must suffer to produce good wines: hot, cold, hot. Water for the grapes comes from the rain stored on the mountains, and the olive trees are used as boundaries between the lands. There are 118 different types of grapes and the winery’s are a family business. Port wines may be white or red and aged in barrels or in bottles. The most popular are Ruby, a fruity young red with a Ruby color; Tawny, aged a minimum of 3 years in barrels; and Late Bottle Vintage, dark in color made from the finest grapes and aged 10-15 years.

The first winery we visited was D’Origem where we not only sampled red and white wines, port, but also the olive oil they also produced on their estate.

The 2nd one was Quinta do Beijo…estate of the kiss. A 100+ year old winery where our tour guide Joao was a 5th generation wine maker. Lunch was the local cuisine of the region. The wines from both places were exceptional.

On our way back we stopped in Amarante to visit the cathedral of San Goncaio de Amarante. Both the convent and Cathedral are named after him. The women of this area with fertility issues have a great devotion to him.

This was such a special day learning something new in a beautiful place. What another great experience.

Traveling with the SilverFox in Porto

I am back! Been a long 2 years since I have written my blog, and I am so happy to be able to do this again. This trip to Porto Portugal was suppose to happen in March of 2020, but things happen, don’t they? We finally made it to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Porto is the 2nd most important city this country, where the Douro River meets the Atlantic. History of this city spans thousands of years, back to the 7th century BC. In the 13th-15th centuries Porto started their seafaring and commercial activities. In the 18th century saw the benefits of the wine culture from the making of barrels and baskets for the grape harvest, to the making of port wine.

Traditional blue and white glaze tiles are also typical of this region. Churches are almost on every corner, Chapel of Corpus Christi and the Chapel of St. Claire are some of the older ones. Schools are located in one place and known as the Area of Knowledge. The beaches are quite beautiful and reminded me of Santa Monica, and also San Diego. Cork trees are quite common in the area and used for a lot of products besides wine bottles. Purses, pens, wallets, etc. Their bark is stripped from the trunks and then the tree is marked with the date. It takes 10 years for the cork to grow back. Cork trees also never lose their leaves. Tomorrow wine tasting!

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