Douro

The Douro Valley, located in the heart of Portugal, is renowned for producing some of the finest, most robust and complex wines in the world. It is a landscape marked by rolling hills, sleepy villages, and vineyards that creep right up to the edge of the winding Douro River. The region boasts a warm, continental climate, where the summers can be blisteringly hot, punctuated by chilling winters. Despite these extremes, the resilient vines planted on the steep slopes of the area thrive.

Douro is, undoubtedly, best known for its port wine, a fortifying and flavoursome tipple which is steeped in Portuguese tradition. Famed for their exceptionally rich and sweet taste, these fortified wines can be found in a variety of styles, from red to white, tawny to vintage, rendering the Douro region diverse in its vinicultural offerings.

In recent years, however, Douro has also gained critical acclaim for its full-bodied, non-fortified red and white wines too. These wines are characterised by their intense fruit flavours, high tannin levels, and strong mineral notes, which are a nod to the area's unique schist-heavy soil.

Vines have been grown in this UNESCO World Heritage Site for thousands of years, making it one of the oldest wine regions in the world. The Douro winemakers have a deep respect for tradition, with many of them still employing age-old techniques, such as foot-treading the grapes. At the same time, they have also embraced modern viticulture technology and methods, allowing the Douro Valley wine scene to adapt and evolve over the centuries.

To sample premium wines from Douro, one must look no further than its local quintas, traditional wine estates that often open their doors for public tastings. A visit to one of these quintas, bathed in the golden glow of the Portuguese sun, is surely the epitome of the Douro wine experience.

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