Porto!

Three words: Porto. Is. Amazing. (Full album here.)

Porto (or Oporto), Portugal's second city, is a beautiful, quaint city situated where the Duoro River (which starts deep in central Spain) meets the Atlantic Ocean. There are beautiful steel bridges, and the city seems to rise straight uphill out of the river. Technically, the area on the north shore of the river is Porto, and the area on the south shore of the river is Gaia.

Nathan and I arrived in Lisbon at about 8 am on Friday morning. We went to our (amazing) hostel, ate breakfast, and then I left right away for the Lisboa Oriente train station (pictured) for the 3-hour train ride from Lisbon to Porto. Between the overnight train from Madrid and the 7-hour round-trip journey to Porto and back, I spent about 16 out of these 24 hours on a train. Back on solid ground, I still felt like I was rocking quite a bit. All in all, it was worth it.

I arrived in Porto, took a local train into downtown Porto, and then walked down the hill to the river. Within the first few hours of being in Portugal, it became clear to me that the Portuguese are, in general, extremely friendly and helpful. First, a teenage boy on the train opened up my Lisbon map and talked about his favorite sites in the city. Then, a girl on my train took me to the ticket machine so I could buy a local train ticket and stayed until I had finished the transaction. After that, a local man had me follow him down the hill from the local train station to the river.

Porto (technically, Gaia) is home to the port lodges of all the famous port-producing families. Overwhelmingly, they have British names. And so begins the story.

Many people around the world appreciate port wine ("port"), but as a nation, I'd venture to say that no one loves it quite as much as the British, not even the Portuguese. I am currently reading a massive Churchill biography, and after almost every formal dinner, he rounded out the evening with some port. The British also love French wines such as Bordeaux and Champagne, but during past wars and international disputes, there were times when they could not get French wine from across the English Channel. Seeking other sources, they looked to Portugal, but the Portuguese coast was too hot to ship still wine to England without spoiling it. Therefore, the winemakers began to fortify the wine. Instead of letting all of the grape sugar ferment, they let fermentation consume about 50% of the grapes' sugars, and then they pour in brandy, which kills the yeasts immediately and ends fermentation. This creates a sweeter, fortified wine, and port can ship in heat without "cooking" and ruining the wine. Thus, the British obsession with port was born.

Two quick asides. First, it's interesting that port is so acclaimed given that the winemaking method is so different from practically any still wine in the world, which are mostly made using fairly uniform methods. Second, port is not the only beverage that grew in popularity due to a challenge in meeting British requests. The British had many thousands of troops in India for decades, and in order to ship beer to them without spoiling, they had to make the beer extremely "hoppy"--i.e., bitter. Thus, "India Pale Ale" (IPA), was born.

Back to Porto. I walked down to the river, and then did the extremely crowded Porto Pilgrimage walk across the bridge.

After living to make it across the bridge, I walked about 1/3 of a mile along the river and then up the hill to Taylor's. It has been quite hot in Portugal--roughly 100 degrees in Lisbon today--so walking up the steep, narrow streets was fun, but got me a little winded.

I made it to Taylor's just in time for a free English-language tour of the facilities in Gaia. This is where a bit more explanation is required. Port is aged in oak and bottled in Gaia, but the grapes are grown about 100 miles up the Duoro River in eastern Portugal (and the area where these vineyards lie has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site). Grapes need to stay cool and be crushed as soon as possible after harvest, so the grapes are also crushed and the juice is fermented near the vineyards. Historically, all of the crushing was done by foot, and 5-10% of Graham's is still crushed by foot (which takes about 10 men 3-5 hours per tank)--the rest is done by silicon crushers today). The young port wine was then sent down the treacherous Duoro to Porto so that the barrels could be collected and the port wine aged near the coast. This river journey used to take about a week, and often boats, barrels, and lives were lost.

Today, however, roads reach the terraced wilderness where these vines are grown, so they can truck the young port to Gaia instead of risking the river.

Taylor's and Graham's were great. I chose these two port lodges because they make some of the best ports in the world. Both of them had very high-quality tours, and I learned a great deal about the science of port (e.g., reduction vs. oxidation during the years in oak) as well as how they make the different styles (ruby, vintage, late-bottled vintage, tawny, Colheita, white). At Taylor's, I was fortunate enough to try the 2007 Vintage Port, which was delicious and extremely impressive. I'd say 95-96.

At Graham's, I was blessed to be able to experience the greatest tasting flight of my life: 1985 Dow's Vintage Port, 1994 Quinta do Vesuvio (single-vineyard) Vintage Port, and 2000 Graham's Vintage Port. Every single one was an absolute blockbuster, but I didn't prefer any one to the others. They were all simply amazing representations of their respective house's traditional styles, as well as a great example of how top-quality vintage port ages over 25 years. I'd say 96-97 for each. Simply amazing--I will never forget it.

After Graham's, I caught the Graham's bus, which took me down the hill and across the bridge, and I said goodbye to Porto. But since I have loved Lisbon and Porto so much (and will likely love Lagos and the Algarve, as well), I doubt it was goodbye forever. It would be fun to bring Jen to Portugal, and I know Matt Dean (shout-out) will need to do this now, so maybe the four of us can make the trip down the road.

Again, the full album is here. I loved Lisbon and cannot wait to write about it, but I need to be up in about 4 hours, so this will have to do for now. Please forgive any typos--I will fix them in the next couple days. Look for Lisbon and Lagos posts over the next day or two!

- R