The Top 4 Reasons You Should Drink Douro River Valley Wine

1. Harvest By Hand and Crushed By Foot
Portuguese wines are known for value. A good bottle starts at $10-$15. What isn't known is that the Douro River Valley is the most expensive wine growing region in the world.

The steep vineyards were created long before trucks and machines, so the grapes are accessible only by foot. Grape pickers must carry each box uphill to the trucks waiting above in 100 degree heat. This makes for a very labor-intensive and expensive harvesting.

Also many boutique wineries still stomp their grapes by foot. This, again, takes a lot of time and manpower. So, when you drink that $10-$15 bottle, know that it is even more valuable than you thought. This extra TLC and expensive overhead does make very special wine.

2. Port Only Comes from Douro River Valley , Portugal
The Douro River Valley is the only place in the world that can technically grow grapes for Port, kind of like how champagne only comes from France's Champagne region. Wine regions around the world rip off the name for their fortified, sweet wines, but only Port comes from Portugal , and its grapes must come from the Douro River Valley.

3. No Irrigation
To maintain the Port making tradition, the government enacted strict grape-growing standards that every cultivator must adhere to. My favorite is, "You cannot water your grape plants". What the heck? The Douro is appropriately nicknamed "hell" in the summer because of its ungodly sun and extreme heat. How does any farmer expect to produce a crop without water? I kill my tomato plants in one day if I don't water them.

But grapes from the Douro are never watered - ever. (Well, the exception is for baby vines. They can be watered until they mature.) Roots must go 4-6 feet down to find water. This puts a huge strain on the grapes which, ironically makes the wine better. The harder the vines struggle for water, the more tasty soil nutrients get deposited in the grape. No irrigation means blasts of flavor!

4. No Tacky Tourism Overhead
Wine tourism is a good thing. It stabilizes revenue for small producers -- smoothing out the financial wrinkles of slow years. And as a lover of wine, a strong tourism infrastructure provides access to great wine tasting experiences.

However, these are downsides to it as well: cheesy wine knickknack stores, grocery stores with overpriced picnic fixins', bad wine staying in the marketplace because it's subsidized by overpriced lunches served on their terrace, etc.

Also, when regions become hot tourism spots, the price of the wine goes up due to its reputation. Take Napa Valley for example. Because Napa is, I feel their wine is 25% more expensive than comparable wines in California . Great wine, but wow, they are expensive. And they can get away with it.

Douro Valley , by contrast, is much more beautiful than Napa , and it has none of the tacky, price-inflating problems that come along with other wine growing regions, hence making it a good deal and a great place to travel.

A Glowing Review and Eating Blood Sausage with the Quirky People of the Douro

Before we head back to Portugal, I want to let you know that The Seattle Times wine critic, Paul Gregutt, wrote a glowing review of Elemental Importers’ portfolio – highlighting the Domandos Torrontes and the Gozzo Organic Cabernet Sauvignon! This is incredible! He is arguably the most well respected wine writer in the Pacific Northwest, and he is a Contributing Editor of Wine Enthusiast Magazine. This is in addition to him being a heck of a nice guy. Now we have proof that our wine is good. Thank you, Paul! Now go tell your wine shop (or grocery store) to carry it!
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Port. Many people have tried it, but most understandably know nothing about it. Port is confusing. Ruby…Tawny…LBV...drink now…drink in a century…it’s sweet…it’s dry…it’s red…it is white…aaahhh!!! Well, I’m not giving you a lesson on port today because the good ol’ Wikipedia can do it for me. Check it out here. It’s actually really interesting stuff. I’m also not going to tell you what port to try, and what port not to try. Find a local wine shop doing a tasting…and give it a whirl. It’s worth it.

Instead I’ll provide a tasting of some of the surprisingly quirky people we met in the Douro River Valley …the only region in the world that can technically grow grapes for Port. I like to believe that these charming souls add to the beauty of the wine.

I Love the USA!
One winemaker’s 12-year old son asked in broken English, “Where are you from in the USA ?”. “ Seattle .” “I like Coca Cola!” Come to find out, this boy loves the US so much that when his parents voiced less than positive opinions of George W Bush, he got upset and said, “Stop saying bad things about the US president! You don’t know him!”

Eat Your Veggies...Or Else...
That same family had a cook/ nanny that had been the “head” of the household for many years. In the middle of our tasting with the winery staff, I was startled by a strong “Jab! Jab! Jab!” in my side. I turned to see the 4’9” Woman in Charge herding me to the table like a little girl. The staff abruptly stopped the tasting and joined me. Apparently, lunch was ready. As she served the soup, you could feel her loving energy fill the room, but her weathered face told you there would be hell to pay if you didn’t eat all your veggies. Later, I found a little round bruise on my side. It made me smile.

A Food Porn Entrepreneur
The chef/owner of the DOC Restaurant is a flavor genius. I actually enjoyed his blood sausage. His fine collection of Douro wine was an inspiration. And to my delight, he was as quirky as you’d hope a master chef would be. He elegantly helped us decided on each course, but he made sure that we also saw his new cookbook. Filled with arty photos of him standing barefoot in the Douro River with a chef’s coat, this book took food porn to whole new level! And in addition to the countless magazines and books that raving about his food, our attention was turned to a “remarkable new machine” that mixed like Kitchen Aid and heated like a stove top at the same time. And for only 20 installments of $50, we too could own one. He was certainly an entrepreneur.

The Sweet Smell of Orange Blossom and Meat

The Douro River Valley is a spectacularly beautiful wine growing region. Rugged terraced vineyards slope down hill to a slowly curving blue river. A photographer’s paradise. The light at dusk makes the dry rocky dirt turn a bright orange, while casting dramatic shadows of vines and olive trees onto the road. As the sun sets and the temperature begins to drop swallows come zipping out of their cool corners like an untrained army. Using the wind as their personal rollercoaster, they swoop chaotically through the air collecting unseen bugs for dinner. This breeze also brings with it the sweet small of orange blossoms mixed with savory roasting meat from the restaurant below.

And here sits me and my Ryan on the balcony of our humble guest house. For only 35 euros a night, we have box office seats to the best lightshow in town. Sipping on a local cocktail (inexpensive white port, tonic water, and lime) from our plastic bathroom cups, we smile knowingly to each other. Life is indeed very very sweet.

P.S. And the wine is good. It is very very good. More to come.

White Port from 1953 and the Most Beautiful City in the World

Today we arrived in Porto, Portugal which is located where the Douro River drains into the Atlantic Ocean. Traditionally, the grape growers upriver floated kegs of port down to be warehoused in Porto, where the weather is (slightly) cooler. All of the major producers still warehouse their ports here today. We were so excited to visit a couple of them!

Our mouths watering in anticipation, we set out to wander the city. After only a few minutes, we discovered that it was one of the most beautiful cities in the world! It was an amazing blend of old and new, grit and polish, and everywhere people walked through narrow streets down to the river. We followed the traffic downhill, where just across the river we would be able to find the warehouses (and tasting rooms).

We crossed the river and walked, and walked, and walked uphill until we came upon our first port house: Taylor's. Barrels of all sizes lined up like little port-making soilders. Depending on the size and length of time in barrel, different types of port is made. A quick rule of thumb is, rubys see the shortest time in the barrel; Tawny ports see the longest.

After Taylor's, we went to another port house, and another, and another. By this point we knew dinner was necessary, but it was not to be.

As we searched for Purtugese cuisine, we stumbled upon a bar that specialized in boutique ports, oh my! We quickly befriended the owner and he poured us flight upon flight of varying vintages, types, and vineyards. Towards the end of our stay he came over to us, and with a twinkle in his eye, suggested we each try a glass of white port made in 1953! After his first taste, Ryan said nothing and then started to laugh. After a 20 second pause he said, "This is the finest beverage I have ever tasted in my life." We would have bought the bottle there and then if only it wasn't 190 euros.

After this warm welcome to Portugal I can't wait to dive into the winemaking region and see where all of this comes from!