Visiting the Port Wine Lodges

Situated directly across the river from Porto, the inviting cluster of old wine lodges nestled tightly together on the riverbank of Vila Nova de Gaia rank very highly amongst Portugal’s top tourist attractions.

These are the final distribution points of the many magnificent wines produced in the spectacular Douro Valley, the world’s oldest demarcated wine region and an area blessed with stunning landscapes in the heart of northern Portugal.

No visit to the country’s ancient second city is complete without a tour of one or more of these enticing caves de vinho do porto, as they are known locally. For hundreds of years they have been a crucial staging post in port wine’s historic journey from the lush vineyards of the River Douro to all four corners of the world.

These atmospheric and very traditional lodges are the centre of the wine’s maturing, blending and bottling process. In the river’s pre-dam era of days gone by, the casked wine was transported some 150 kilometres (90 miles) downriver in characteristic flat-bottomed boats called barcos rabelos, some of which can still be seen moored along the riverbank today.

Facing north towards Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia’s cooler temperatures and greater levels of humidity (around 85 per cent) help reduce the wine’s evaporation deep inside the lodges’ cool, dark storage rooms, many of which are sunk deep into the granite.

Considered by connoisseurs to be a very fine wine with a lasting pedigree, port has long-gained a world-wide reputation on the back of its centuries-old tradition. Napoleon and Wellington were both avid port drinkers, as were Voltaire and Catherine the Great.

Three basic varieties of port wine are in production – ruby, tawny and white – the latter often quite dry and best drunk as an apéritif. Tawny, however, is the ideal digestif while ruby is generally the younger, sweeter and cheaper of the three.

The Holy Grail of vinho do porto is without doubt vintage port which accounts for a fraction (around 1 per cent) of total sales around the world.   What sets vintage port apart from the others is the quality of the grapes, which are picked perfectly ripe in and around the Cima Corgo region after an outstanding summer. Some of the most renowned vintage years to date include 1927, 1931, 1935, 1945, 1948, 1955 and 1963, and they are the best that money can buy.

What to do in Porto

If you ever get to taste one of these rare vintages then you’ll have a better chance of really understanding the sentiment of the old saying, that ‘port is the wine of kings and the king of wines’.

From the centre of Porto, it couldn’t be easier to reach the wine lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia. Just walk across the striking two-tiered Luís I bridge and immediately turn right along the river bank where you’ll find them all conveniently grouped together.   Many of the port wine companies offer fascinating tours of their lodges, complete with an in-depth explanation of the whole production process.

Established in 1815, Cockburn’s wine lodge is a traditional building with high, pine-beamed ceilings and earthen floors. Visits include a tasting and the chance to see the cooperage where the casks are still being made by hand.

A historic tour of Sandeman’s wine lodge (indicated on the map below) takes us back to the days of the company’s beginnings whilst exploring the roots of its heritage and its irreverent advertising since the start of the 20th century.

Operating since 1890, Graham’s wine lodge is where all the company’s port is aged and each visit includes a guided tour by one of the company’s wine experts and a selection of port tastings complete with food pairings.

Now in its fourth century, Taylor’s wine lodge features a museum circuit where visitors can learn all about the story of port wine with the help of an audio guide available in several languages. There’s also a range of tastings to enjoy, including a choice of many different aged ports or a classic vintage port.

Set high on a hill close to the wine lodges stands the 16th-century convent of Nossa Senhora da Serra do Pilar where Wellington established his headquarters prior to taking Porto from the French in 1809.