Continuing our Porto adventure, we decided to spend a day two a bit closer to home. A short ride across the river brought us to Vila Nova de Gaia where the larger Port houses continue to age their wine in their centuries-old “lodges.” Today, smaller producers (such as Wine & Soul and Quinta de la Rosa) are allowed to age their wines at their respective production sites in the Douro Valley.

We first visited the time-honored lodge of Taylor’s where we were treated to an extensive educational tour of the production and aging cellars followed by a Tawny experience. The base wine for Taylor’s is vinified up valley near their various vineyards and then shipped by boat down the Douro to the lodge for aging and ultimate blending. Until the five locks and dams were constructed along the Douro between 1964 and 1971 under the direction of Prime Minister Salazar, this was a treacherous route resulting in the loss of hundreds of workers and thousands of barrels of wine.

After our tour, we were led across the magnificent grounds to a private tasting salon where we sampled five Tawnys: 10-Year, 20-Year, 30-Year, 40-Year and a surprise 50-Year. Although, I had previously tasted older Tawnys from barrel, I had never tasted a 50-year from bottle. This was a unique experience for everyone.

Port wines are fortified with distilled spirits (often called brandy) that serve to stop the fermentation at the desired level of residual sugar and adjust the alcohol content (abv) in a desired range from 18- to 22 % depending on house style.

This production method is quite tricky and differs greatly from the fermentation of a dry wine that normally proceeds on its own to dryness leaving little or no residual sugar. The Port winemaker's skill and tenacity are called into action throughout fermentation as the precise moment of the desired residual sugar concentration can occur any time of day or night. It is only at that moment when the brandy addition can occur as an hour or two of excess fermentation can make the difference whether the finished wine is acceptable or not.

The production of Tawny Port adds another level of challenge and complexity. While Vintage Port consists of wine from a specific vintage, Tawnys are the product of a complex formula based on blending multiple vintages (by volume) to average the age on the label.

In tasting the five wines from oldest to youngest (a normal progression so the attributes of age are not overshadowed by the tenacity of youth), I was able to understand the development curve with an historical perspective. But when tasting from youngest to oldest, the experience was reversed and I appreciated the growth and development in a more chronological order. Both were outstanding perspectives offering a unique experience for the group.

When our tasting was concluded we walked across the street to The Yeatman Hotel (also a Taylor-Fladgate property) for a buffet lunch paired to several dry wines from Taylor properties. The spectacular view across the Douro to Porto is unforgettable. Our next stop of the day was a visit and private tour of the renowned Cork Museum, and I invited Amorim Cork’s international director of marketing and communications Carlos de Jesus to join us for lunch and discuss the history and future of cork.

The Cork Museum (around the corner from the Yeatman) is part of the eight-museum complex of the World of Wine (WOW) and co-sponsored by Taylor’s and Amorim Cork, the world’s largest producer of wine corks and a broad range of other commercial products from clothing to aerospace and countless others.

Carlos shared little known and often forgotten virtues of cork. Portugal is the world’s largest producer of cork and cork products followed by Spain. Ecologically speaking, cork presents a net negative carbon footprint where the cork oak forests act as “carbon sinks.” One ton of cork produced captures 73 tons of CO2 and one cork stopper captures about 400 grams of CO2.

Cork oaks are harvested every nine years and live 200 years while sequestering CO2 at every level and all cork products are 100% recyclable. The scourge of “corkiness” or “corked” wines (TCA contamination) is largely behind us due to Amorim’s €300 million investment to identify the presence of TCA and develop cutting-edge methods for its removal.

Dinner that night at Ricardo Graça’s second restaurant Mistu was one of the most memorable evenings of our Iberian adventure. In addition to the intriguing family-style menu and wine pairings I was able to plan with Ricardo and Mistu Manager Paulo, we were joined by a newly found friend (through his readership of this column) who had recently relocated from Southern California to Ukraine and is now living just north of Porto.

Dean Medeiros (born in Portugal and emigrated to the U.S. as a child) was a sommelier at a Southern California restaurant when COVID-19 hit and the restaurant was forced to close. His wife Julia is from Ukraine and they decided to relocate to Kiev where Julia’s family lived and resume their work there. They lived a nice life in Kiev with Julia designing clothes and Dean educating sommeliers for work in restaurants.

Just before the war began, Dean was part of a 900-person Zoom call to U.S. passport holders warning them to leave immediately. They moved to their summer house in Portugal where they now reside. The stories related by both Julia and Dean were sobering and at some point, very emotional as our entire group embraced them both.

Our final day in Porto took us back to the Douro Valley and Quinta do Crasto. There, we enjoyed a tour, tasting and lunch on the terrace overlooking the splendid river with Miguel Roquette who represents the fourth generation of his family leading the estate. Although Miguel states, “We will always be Port Producers,” he has led a clear path on the exploration and expansion of both white and red dry table wines beginning with the 1994 vintage.

The estate consists of 340 acres with 186 acres planted at a variety of altitudes (up to 500 meters) and exposures. The soils are primarily slate where a broad range of red varieties of varying ages grow, and the upper ridge of granite best suited to white varieties for the table wine programs. In addition, Crasto owns a 375-acre estate with 285 planted at altitudes from 130 to 450 meters in the Douro Superior region.

Our visit began near the main house where Miguel explained the history of the property dating back to Roman time. Their strategic fort at the top of the mountain with a 360-degree view of the river allowed them to track all traffic from any direction. An exhilarating hike through and around the steep rocky and slate vineyard gave us an understanding of the land and grape growing challenges.

We gathered around the infinity pool with sweeping views of the Douro Valley for small bites and a taste of three dry wines from magnum before adjourning to the terrace for a delightful lunch served both family-style and buffet with additional wines from Miguel’s portfolio and library.

We began with a 2019 Crasto Douro Superior Red and a surprise 2020 Crasto Superior Syrah from an experimental plot on the Douro Superior vineyard. Despite the heat in that area, this Syrah was more in the style of a Northern Rhone with bright acidity, a generous dose of red berries and the characteristic “bacon-fat” notes on the nose.

We continued our vinous adventure with a 2005 Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vines. As a pièce de resistance we were treated to a 2006 Vina Maria Teresa in a 3.0L format from Miguel’s personal cellar. This rare wine is sourced from an exclusive small plot of centenary vines and is one of Quinta do Crasto’s oldest. What a delight! We finished the meal with a Late Bottled Vintage Port from the early 1990s and a 1987 Vintage Port. A beautiful finale to a magnificent day.

Our arrival in Porto was followed by some down time before walking through town for our closing dinner at Real at Casa da Calcada. During the planning process both Luis Moreira and Mariana Pinheiro were most helpful and the entire Real staff offered superb service during the dinner. As this was our closing dinner, I wanted to expand our experience by focusing on wines from areas we had not previously experienced.

Before being seated, we began with a creative selection of canapes and 2022 Portal da Calçada Vinho Verde in magnum. Our 1st Moment was a delicate seabass rice with seaweed and Salicornia paired to a lively 2020 Campolargo Bical de Sempre from Bairrada. Next, we were treated to sauteed chicken with aromatic herbs and seasonal vegetables paired to 2022 Paxá Negre from the Algarve region.

Our 3rd Moment featured a Sous vide black pork (from Alentejo and a local delicacy) with smoked corn and Portuguese cabbage. The pairing wine for this course was rare and not often seen in export markets: 2019 Quinta dos Távores Reserva Vinhas Velhas from Trás-os-Montes in Portugal’s northeast mountains.

Dessert was a traditional Portuguese pudding with egg yolks, sugar, lard and Port wine. To match the dish, I wanted to feature the classic wine of the coastal Setúbal region: 2004 Horácio Simõnes Moscatel Roxo. A very sweet ending for a magnificent culinary experience!

The Iberian Peninsula was a land of boundless surprises expressed through the individual personalities of Spain and Portugal. We await the opportunity of revisiting the area and continuing our exploration of her wines, cuisine and culture. Saúde!