May 29th (Mon) Cloudy/rainy
9:30 start Douro district tour by bus
The Upper Douro Wine Region is a World Heritage Site. The Douro River, which flows from Spain, is about 900 kilometers long. The upper Douro River area, called the Alto Douro, is registered as a World Heritage Site for both the terraced fields of grapes and the method of producing port wine.
The amazing thing about the vineyards that you can see from the bus. It looks like there are more buildings and prosperity than I thought. The bus runs at high speed through the Alto Douro to reach Regla, 100 kilometers from Porto.
11:00 Arrival at Quinta de Pacheca, a wine producer in Porto Douro.
There is also a large winery with 15 hotel rooms and 10 large cottages in the shape of 10 barrels on top of the field, where you can also stay. Spa and pool are also available.
Visit Lagard, a shallow tank where 12-15 people stomp grapes. It has been in use since 1903.
Tasting and aperitif in a warehouse lined with large barrels.
Quinta de Pacheca is an old winery founded in 1738, and since 1977 has also worked on still wines from the Douro DOC.
・2021 Douro White Pacheca Douro
・2021 Douro Rose Resarva
・NV Whiteport
Lunch
Start with the 3 types of wine
Soup: Cardo Verde Traditional Kale Soup
Fish: baccarat and spinach, potatoes, cornbread and lime sauce
Meat: veal tortado “Maronesa” with shallots and potatoes
Local AOC beef Maronesa wrapped in bacon
・2021 Douro Rouge Pacheca
Dessert: Custard, Creme Brulee
The olive oil here was also in the soup.
・Pacheca Porto 20years Towny
15:00 One hour late boarding Start of the Douro River rafting
From the town of Regla by the winery. There are many Quinta around here. The Sandeman mark rises over the field.
There is also a port wine association here. It is also a departure and arrival point for steam locomotives and is the center of tourism.
I was thirsty on board, so I drank water, Douro White, and beer.
Water and white wine are free, but all wine is Pacheca Beer is cheap at €1.50 a bottle.
It was very comfortable on the boat, but it soon rained and I returned to the boat. Anyway, it's far and it's long, leisurely. Even though the members spent so much time on lunch, they were in a party state.
On the way you will pass through Carraparelo and Cretuma dams.
Go through the lock. With a height of 35m, it is said to be the lock gate with the largest height difference in the world. It turned out to be a very interesting event.
Dinner around 18:00
Same aperitif, start with big bread
・2021 Pacheca Grand Reserva White
13%. Blend of Alinto, Vioshinho, Robigdo and Codega. According to the president, it is only a blend of grapes that have been planted for a long time.
Again, the usual vegetable soup: Not bad if you get it sparingly.
Thin slices of roasted veal. Rice, potatoes, and hot vegetables (green beans and carrots)
・2021 Pacheca Reserve Red Old Vines Douro
Blend of 33% Truga National, 33% Touriga Frank, 23% Tintaroris (Tempranillo), 10% Sousao, purple garnet rich, straight, 14% alcohol
Lever Lock
Here the jazz band boards. After a little rain, enjoy the lock event at the top of the ship.
It was great fun with a live saxophone quartet. The fireworks at the start ended quickly, but it turned out to be a fun event.
Back on board for chocolate cake and coffee.
It's been a long time from here, the rain is getting worse.
I can't get to the dock because the boat was delayed. It may mean that you should enjoy the night view of Porto. Disembarked shortly after 10:00. The rain started to drizzle and I walked back to the hotel.
Students (including elementary school students) band will play and welcome you. I wonder if it's late at night.
About Douro and Porto
An area called Douriense
The production area covers 250,000 ha of the Douro River Basin, from Barqueiros, 100 km upstream of the Douro River, to Barca d'Alva, near Spain.There are 3 regions of 46,000 ha of vineyards from downstream to upstream.
Baishkolgo: High occupancy of vineyards.
Shimakorugo: Area with the highest quality
Dourosperior: Transportation was inconvenient, but development is progressing now.
This area is a World Heritage Site as a wine producing area.
Half of the cultivated land is a terraced field with a slope of 30% or more, and cultivation is hard work.
Total production: 1,260,000hl, Douro DOP: 498,000hl, DOP Porto: 736,000hl
Red wine is increasing every year and fortification is decreasing.
・DO Douro
The Douro Boys, which was formed in 2023, and other young producers, are now attracting the world's attention as a production area for non-fortified red wine.
Recently, both white and rosé wines are produced in the same region as port, but a wider range of varieties can be used than port.
VR Doraliense is the same area as DO Douro, but you don't see it very often.
・DO port
One of the three major fortified wines in the world
It would be a huge amount if I started explaining it, so I'll keep it simple.
Porto, Portugal's second largest city, is a World Heritage city at the mouth of the Douro River
On the opposite bank of Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, a port from the Roman era, called Portoscale. This is the origin of the Portuguese word. This is the aging base of Porto, and there are many Porto makers' warehouses. Since 1926, aging here has been mandatory, but since 1986 it has been possible to ship from upstream production areas.
・More than 80 kinds of grapes can be used to produce Porto, but the main one is
There are Touriga National, Tintabarroca, Touriga Franca, Tintaroris (Tempranillo), Tinta, Kaon, etc.
More than other red wines, 2-3 days of fermentation and aging in the fermenter. Grapes are stomped with human feet in a lagare to extract the tannins and color in a short period of time. Now most of them are stepped by machines, but some high-end ones are done by foot. There is also a theory that people's feet are good.
・Add 77% grape spirit to the liquid during fermentation to stop fermentation.
・Ruby type: young red port, filtered.
・Vintage Port: Made from particularly good grapes and unfiltered.
Need to decantage, easy to find bottles for birthdays and anniversaries.
You can find old years with things that last a long time. Use a pinch porto to open the old one.
・Tawny type: There are 10, 20, 30, and 40 years old that are barrel-aged for a long time and have a tawny color. There is no sediment because it is filtered and then bottled.
・White type and rosé type are also available.
・Drinking on the rocks and responding to the global decrease in fortified consumption.
In the past, providing port and cigars was the last job of a sommelier (our generation can also handle cigars)
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