Before leaving Canada we had booked a private one-day tour of the Douro Valley wine region. The tour company called Tourvent Tours specializes in small private tours. We were quite fortunate as we had its founder, Alfredo Santos as our guide for the day.

 We left Porto in his BMW station wagon at 8:30 sharp and it took us about 1.5 hours to get to the first wine estate Pacheca. I really should be saying to the first Quinta da Pacheca 😊

Before this one day excursion, we had very little knowledge about Portuguese wines. On the drive there, Alfredo was so kind in sharing his wine knowledge with us, so by the time we got to the Douro Valley, we were feeling a lot more knowledgeable about the wines and port we were about to taste.

Here are a few photos to remind us of this beautiful and very informative day.

Note to self- (see below) for us not to forget about the terraces we saw and learned about on this tour.  It is incredible to imagine that hundreds of years ago these terraces were all built by hand. We were pleased to learn that this work has been recognized and that the region has now earned its UNESCO designation.

We had an incredible lunch at the Quinta da Pacheca . 

After lunch, Alfredo was able to arrange for us to visit one of the ten barrel suites at the Quinta da Pacheca. These one-bedroom barrels have recently been built to accommodate tourists who wish to stay here and have the whole experience of sleeping and staying directly on a wine estate. Alfredo explained that we were fortunate that day as usually later in the year these are all booked and therefore we would not have been able to arrange this private viewing. We were thrilled! Thank-you Alfredo!

We then moved on to a boat ride on the Douro river and were able to capture yet a few more photos of this beautiful valley & its vineyards.

Bernard managed to get more great information from our tour guide, Alfredo.

We ended the day at the Croft Estate which is now owned by the well known Taylor Fladgate wine house. More port, please! 😊 We had the place to ourselves!

We arrived back in Porto around 7:30 pm.  A long day, but very rewarding. In summary, this tour gave us a unique opportunity to see and learn about this amazing wine region. Even though Douro Valley has been producing Port wine for centuries the wine tourism industry is still in its early development. By being there this time of year, we were able to get the full attention and knowledge of the experts on site. We were spoiled as we got to enjoy some incredible wines and port today. It will be hard to return to Canada as we do not have this quality of port at this affordable price back home. So having said that let’s enjoy it while we’re here.

We have been very fortunate that in all our travels over the years we have been able to visit many renowned wine regions in Europe. Each time, it has given us a better appreciation of all the work and the “savoir-faire” that goes behind these beautiful wines. We then get to enjoy them {almost } every day. 😊🍷🌺

Here is our review to Alfredo-

“Alfredo thank you so much for this day and the opportunity to tap into your vast knowledge of port wines and of this region. We also appreciated all your tips and recommendations that will certainly make the remainder of our stay in Porto memorable. Please visit us in Canada someday.” Bernard & Aline