Douro is approximately 3x the size of Napa Valley and there are no shortage of wineries “Quintas” to visit in the area. With only 2 days in the Valley (and having full itinerary outside of Douro), we definitely didn’t get to visit as many as I would have liked. However, it was also easy to visit port houses right in town of Porto within walking distance to Airbnbs and hotels. Here are some of the wineries we visited in Douro and Porto:
Douro Valley Wineries
Few things I had in mind when planning the Douro is 1) Mix of Port and still wines 2) Mix of small and large wineries 3) Include a winery with the Douro River view 4) Reasonable distance/route
Wine and Soul - Small family owned winery with a long list of still white and red wines along with ports.
Vintage Theory - We stopped here during lunch and did their lunch and tasting experience. Booking through our driver (more on this later) gave us a significant discount–€15 for a sit down lunch with wine and separate port tasting. Good traditional lunch and the port tasting was fun and educational
Quinta do Popa - We wanted to include a winery with the iconic view of the Douro River and this was a great spot. You can choose to focus on their port or still wines for the tasting so we did a bit of both.
Quinta da Pacheca - We tasted here as it was included with our stay (which we LOVED, you can read more about it here)
Murganheira - This is technically not considered Douro Valley but in Távora-Varosa, about 30 minutes south of our hotel. We visited on our 2nd day before returning to Porto, separately from full day of tasting in Douro Valley. Loved the experience getting to tour the cave and seeing the entire traditional sparkling wine making process.
Transportation to Douro from Porto
We typically opt to hire a private driver vs. renting a car when we are abroad and wine tasting because we are not familiar with the area and would rather enjoy the day without worrying about someone being a designated driver. We were spending the night in Douro so we hired a driver to pick us up from our place in Porto and drop us off in Douro instead of driving back to Porto. We compared a few options and chose a company that seemed like a good balance of being affordable and personable. Prior to the trip, I worked with the company to arrange the route based on my research and their recommendation. Highly recommend this if you want complete freedom in planning the day. Other options are
Public transportation (Train to Douro then Taxi to wineries) which will take longer and could be limiting in terms of winery choices
Group tours with a set itinerary (convenient but limiting in terms of winery choices). If you are ok with these limitations and want to do a quick day trip from Porto it’s a great option and more affordable. You can find some private and group options here.
Porto Wineries
There is an entire street/area dedicated to Port wine houses in Vila Nova de Gaia area of Porto and you can find all the popular names like Calem and Fonseca. We didn’t do much research prior and just stopped by while walking around. Two we ended up visiting were:
Churchill Lodge: Bit further walk into the town from the main road but the walk was worth it! There are various flights you can choose from and we felt like we really got to taste different types of ports here. Ended up taking two bottles home!
Porto Augusto: We wanted to check out a smaller producer/brand that is not as familiar to us and ended up here. They have a tour and tasting or you can just choose a tasting flight with a variety of ports. It was fun to taste the difference from Ruby, Tawny, and Vintage.
This post contains affiliate links, FineVining may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on the site at no additional cost to you.