After the big changes witnessed last decade in the regions of Algarve and Madeira, during which these two Portuguese regions became appealing places for tourists, now is the time for Lisbon and Porto to embrace the second phase. For Porto, one of the most important attraction for the tourists is the Port Wine history, and of course, the possibility to visit cellars and lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. In spite of the long way to achieve perfection, the overall quality of the public facilities, such as restaurants, hotels, shops, museums and Port lodges included, is increasing quickly, as more and more people are visiting Porto. Porto’s airport recorded in 2011 a total of 6 million passengers. During the first two months of 2012 the number of passengers in Porto’s airport increased by 6.3%, when compared with the same period of 2011, with thousands more expected to arrive by ship and by car. If you have not visit Porto for over 5 or 7 years you will find a much different city, for better!

Last year a new transport – cable car – started operating in Vila Nova de Gaia, right across the Luiz I bridge, connecting Jardim do Morro to Cais de Gaia. The whole trip, which last for some minutes, gives us a wonderful view of the old Porto area, the Port Wine lodges in Gaia as well as a view of the remarkable Luiz I bridgefrom 1886. I’ve recently made a video inside of a cabin in which I try to show a little of what you can find. Sunset time is, in my opinion, the best period to ride the cable car. Not sure whether you can take your glass of Port on board, but I’m sure it would taste so good!! Also, the upper entrance of the cable car is connected to the metro, which stops at Jardim do Morro, right after Luiz I bridge. And the lower entrance  is a couple of hundred meters away from Quevedo’s lodge, in Rua de Santa Marinha 77. Come to say hello when you are around!

Oscar

Today is a special day for the Douro valley. Ten years ago UNESCO classified the Alto Douro Wine Region as World Heritage center for its long history of wine production by traditional landholders, for some 2,000 years. But what really gave name and fame to the region was Port Wine, which records show a first commercial operation occurring in 1675 with Holland. In 1756 came the delimitation and regulation of the region, and from then on Port Wine has been part of the drinking culture of many household a little bit anywhere in the world.

In these ten years, since the classification from UNESCO, several things changed in the Douro for better. The overall quality of vine growing, wine making and tourism accommodation all improved a lot in this decade. And tourism is exactly what I think is the next big challenge for the Douro. To take advantage of the potential of the region, developing it as a exclusive wine destination region is what shall occupy all of us involved in the daily business of the Douro. And for this, UNESCO’s classification is also very important.

Take a look at the ceremony program that is taking place today at Peso da Régua.

Oscar

Since many years ago, Vila Nova de Gaia, the second biggest Portuguese city in population to Lisbon, has had a very important rule in the Port Wine business. It was from the dock of Vila Nova de Gaia, right before the mouth of the Douro river that Port Wine used to be shipped, mainly in pipas but also in bottles, to all over the world. The entreposto of Gaia, which stands in front of the city of Porto (on the left/ south margin of the Douro river), was the only one where Port Wine could be exported from (until 1986 when Portugal joined the EU). This means that though Port Wine was produced in the Douro valley, over 100km away from Gaia, it had to be taken all the way down of the Douro river, to Gaia from where it then could be exported. This way, it is without surprise that many foreign merchants set up a warehouse or lodge in Gaia where they could store and age the Port Wine, which they would buy in the Douro for further shipment.

As a traditional Port Wine producer, rather than shipper, Quevedo never had a lodge in Gaia, just because during the life of our ancestors we were focused on the production rather than exporting. But since a couple of months ago we changed the history, opening a tasting room in Gaia. Here, besides all our wines, we have information about the terroir in the Douro as well as differences between the types of Port Wine that we produce. The lodge is located in Rua de Santa Marinha 77, in the square where the Santa Marinha church stands up. Do you know the street I am talking about? Another reference, our lodge is located on the lower part of the street where Taylor’s lodge and Croft visitor’s centers are located. This is the map of Quevedo lodge in Gaia.

Ana Paula, the manager of the tasting room, will be glad to guide you and happily show you our wines. I hope you enjoy this experience, and let me know what you think about it. You may also send me an email and if I’m around, I’ll show up!

Oscar

This is a question that some of our readers ask me, and instead of replying on an email, I will make my suggestions here.

If you only have one day to visit the region, make sure you go to the Douro as early as possible. A car will help you moving around,  because one of the things that is hard to find in the Douro is public transportation. However, there is a train line that connects the Douro and Porto. The first train from Porto – Campanhã to Régua leaves Porto at 6.35am and gets to Régua at 8.52am. In total, you have 13 daily connections between Porto and Régua during a week-day and 12 on the weekend.

If you plan to go further east to Pinhão or Ferradosa, the first train from Porto is at 7.25am, arriving in Pinhão at 9.41am and in Ferradosa at 10.13am. To go back to Porto from Ferradosa, the last train is at 5.55pm and from Pinhão at 6.30pm, arriving in Porto Campanhã at 11.10pm. Trains’ timetables change often, not always for better, so please check CP – Comboios de Portugal site before starting your journey.

If you are traveling by train, you better schedule visits to wineries in advance and ask winemakers to pick you up, if they can. Otherwise, you will have to take a taxi. By bus, you can go from Régua to Lamego, from Régua to Pinhão and to S. João da Pesqueira, but there are very few buses that run everyday.

If you are in Régua, you must go to the Douro Museum. It is a very nice place where you can better understand the history of the region and its people. Take a look as well at the Casa do Douro building, which was once a very important organization in the regulation of Port Wine industry. Rota do Vinho do Porto may help you find wineries that are open to receive you.

Further East there is the small village of Pinhão. Due to its location, on the north bank of the Douro river, at the mouth of the Pinhão river, it has a very beautiful landscape, with plenty of Quintas to visit. You will find several famous wineries, but don’t forget to contact those you want to visit in advance to ensure that they’re ready to receive you. In Pinhão, right in front of the train station, you will find one of the nicest hotels in the Douro, The Vintage House.

If going to Ferradosa, located slightly farther east and nestled at the beginning of the sub-region of Douro Superior, you will also need to schedule your trip in advance. In Ferradosa there is no buildings or houses, but a very small train station, a nice restaurant located 10 minutes from the station and the most beautiful landscape in the Douro valley. It is a great place to see, but there are no taxis or buses at the station, and public transportation is poor to say the least. Again, call taxi or wineries prior to your visit so that they may pick you up. Ferradosa train station serves S. João da Pesqueira, the town where our winery and the most of our vineyards are located. Maybe because I’m from here, I consider this area to be one of the most stunning views in the Douro. That being said, you’re always invited to come check it out yourself!

There are plenty of other places you can visit, such as: São Salvador do Mundo, São Leonardo da Galafura or the city of Lamego, but to avoid making this post too large, leave your comments and I will try to help you organizing your trip to the Douro valley.

Oscar

This year has been marked by a rainy Winter, a hot Summer and by the high number of weddings I am attending to. One of those weddings was far away from the Douro. Mouna, the bride, is from Niger and Andreas, the groom, is Hungarian, who I met when I was working in Madrid.

Due to their wedding, Mouna and Andreas gave me one of the best cultural experiences of my life, which I will never forget. The wedding was in Niamey, the capital of Niger, a landlocked country located in Western Africa. This was my first time in Africa and I was very excited for that, a continent with such a vast history and culture, with so many different landscapes and one of the most intact continents of the world.

Very differently from the European weddings, which usually last for half a day, celebrations of this weeding lasted for three days and four nights. It started on Wednesday with a welcome dinner for all the family and friends of the bride and groom. After eating very tasty and sometimes spicy local food and drinking a red iced tea called bissap (which I loved and brought some with me to Portugal), we started pushing the groom to the pool. For big surprise of the locals, but as expect when you start playing these games, the night finished with the groom, one of our friends and me in the pool, with no time for undressing.

On the next day, Thursday, there was a big session to paint hands and feet of the ladies, which special emphases on the painting the bride would show when meeting the groom after the religious ceremony. On the other side, men had a more relaxed day, with plenty of time to swim and play in the pool.

On Friday was the religious ceremony. As this was a Muslim wedding, I was eager to see and know how all this would be. There were plenty of differencies, starting by the dressing code: everybody on local dresses. But beside that, as the bride’s mum is a Tuareg descent, all the young men, groom’s father included, were dressing the famous turban. The turban is used by the Tuareg for fending off the desert sand and protecting the head and face from very high temperatures and strong sunlight. We were far away from the desert but to preserve local culture, we were with a turban on. The religious ceremony itself, which lasted for around 30 minutes, counted with the participation of sultans from all around Niger. Surprisingly for me, neither the bride or the groom attended to it. The bride was at her parents house and the groom in another house of the family, both located in the street where the ceremony was happening. Also women were not allowed to participate, they were all at bride’s parents house, listing to the canticles through the loudspeakers installed under the tent where all men were. The pinnacle of the ceremony happens when representatives from groom’s family, bride’s family and church discuss the dowry groom’s family would pay for marrying the bride. In the end, Andreas paid a symbolic amount for Mouna and received cows and goats from the Mouna family as gifts. It was a great deal for him!

On the next day, Saturday, and next-to-last day of our visit, was the civil ceremony, presided by Niamey’s Mayor. There I was feeling at home, as this was similar of what we are used to have in Europe. Also the dressing code was similar to ours, suits for men and long dresses for ladies. And right after leaving the house and going to the hotel where the civil wedding would take place, I understood why suit is not very popular in a country with top temperatures of 40º and humidity over 90% all the time. The party ended late in the night, or better said, early in the morning, after sunrise. It seemed hard to keep dancing all night long, but in such a nice hotel over the Niger river, hanging out with happy people that imbue you of energy, you never feel tired.

And it’s because of these nice, always smiling and happy people that I fell in love with Africa. I want to go back soon, to Niger and to other African countries. For the love of Andreas and Mouna!

Here you can find photos of all the trip to Niger. If there is something you would like leave a comment.

Oscar

This is probably the most beautiful place to contemplate the Douro valley. Located in the top of Quinta de Vargellas, this viewpoint makes me feel small, very small. I was there this week-end with my friend André from Adegga and I realized that the Miradouro de Vargellas surprised me once again. I always find something new, something I had never noticed before.

I want to go back and see the Douro from there. Actually, if I could, I would build my house there!

Oscar

The river that crosses the valley where I live has not this name randomly. It comes from its color, which means “golden” in Portuguese. After the heavy rainfall of the last months, the Douro river is more yellow/brown/ golden than ever. Soon, boats will start to bring tourists to see the landscape and to visit the wineries. Spring is coming, it is time to visit the Douro valley! Who is coming to visit us?

Oscar

Quevedo, Port and Douro wine producer, is streaming live the harvest in its vineyards in the Douro to a wine tasting room in London. The live video will be shown next Tuesday, September 22nd 2009 in a big screen of the Boutique Wineries Tasting’s (BWT) main room. At the same time, all the video streaming will be available in the internet through the link Harvest 2009.

From 9am to 6pm GMT all the steps of a harvesting in the Douro will be broadcast, including the fortification of must for Port Wine. At 5pm there will be an audio connection with the conference room in the BWT, where Ryan Opaz, from Catavino, will be speaking about Social Media in Action.

The S. João da Pesqueira’s Town Hall is providing the technology and video experts for the realization of the live streaming to the BTW. This last one offers the  opportunity to on/off traders and press visitors, to taste small productions of exclusive wines. Quevedo has great expectations about this wine fair as a way to find an importer or distributor for its wines and Ports in the United Kingdom.

After launching the first Port Wine producer blog, Quevedo (which currently grows 250 acres of wines and 50 acres of organic olive trees in S. João da Pesqueira, Douro, Portugal) reinforces its commitment with new technologies using them as a direct and interactive way to communicate with the wine lovers, becoming the first Port producer to stream live the harvest.

We would like to invite you to visit our winery and our vineyards in the Douro valley.

During this first couple of days in New York I have been spending some time focusing on peoples’ behavior. It is not difficult to figure out that the American economy is not breathing health and there is two indicators that help me to justify it: there is a considerable number of shops and offices for rent in the center of Manhattan, and Starbucks is not as packed as it used to be.

But as some reports and data show, recession is not always a bad thing for the wine business. I have seen a lot of people drinking wine, wine shops and the wine sections of supermarkets have people buying and importers seem to be still looking for European wines.

Thus, the current market situation is not a reason to put me down and I will not throw in the towel: my mission is clear, to find an importer for our wines!

This photo was taken at 5.20am from our friends’ apartment in New Jersey.

Oscar

When somebody says Azores I think about green land, cows, milk, blue beaches with dark sand, bananas and pineapples, massa sovada and bolo lêvedo and FAMILY! Yes, I have family in São Miguel, the biggest and more developed of the nine islands of the archipelago. Just Santa Maria is not exclusively from volcanic origin,but also had some reef contribution. All the others, Flores, Corvo, Terceira, Graciosa, Faial, Pico, São Jorge and São Miguel are volcanic.

First time I visited São Miguel I was 4 or 5 years old, not sure exactly. With all the excitement of the travel, in which I would have the companion of my sister and cousins, while having a shower the day before departure, I slipped and suffered a head injury. While running with my mom to the local hospital, I thought I could not board next morning!!

Two weeks ago I revisited São Miguel. I could still remember some places: the black sand beach at the bottom of my uncle’s house; the banana trees, pineapple’s greenhouses (btw with amazing tasting pineapples); the village of Furnas, where during the first time I visited the island, we cooked a stew in geysers. Furnas also has lot of hot springs and a huge pool of yellow thermal water.

I had a great time in São Miguel with my uncles from my dad’s side: his sister Maria do Céu and his brother-in-law Mário; my cousins André and Joana and their husbands, Susana and Paulo. Ah, and of course with the children of each of the couples, Maria and Afonso. I want to go back and I want you to visit. You will not regret! Click here to see more photos.

I brought with me in the bag a bottle of a white still wine from Pico. It was the first time I tasted a wine from this island. It was a Frei Gigante from 2007 harvest, golden straw color, wit flavor of toasted bread, slightly oxidized. On the palate it is mild and with a sweet finish.

Finally, what comes to your mind when talking about Azores?

Oscar