Quite unusually, I had a lazy morning. Kim and Greg went out to do their laundry at midday and it was around 1400 when they returned and we went out of lunch.
We wandered across the Luis I Bridge to get better pictures of Ribeira as the light was contrary on our first afternoon. Continuing on, we visited a Port wine company for a tour for EUR5 including a sample of red and white port each. It was good to refresh my memory of how port is made.
- Grape juice is allowed to ferment. The fermentation is stopped using strong alcohol derived from fermentation of the grape skin.
- The already fermented product is aged in barrels. New barrels need to be used to store red wine before hand to remove the excessive oak flavours; that wine is then discarded. Barrels are used for red port and then white port, alternating between them. The red port gets lighter with age as colour is taken up by the barrel, only to be given to the white port that uses the barrel later.
- A ten year old port is a mix of wines ranging from 10-19 years, twenty from 20-29 etc but fifty includes 50-55.
We finished with a dinner in a simple traditional diner with local specialties.
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- Porto on the Douro River.
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- Porto on the Douro River. Those boats used to carry barrels of wine from upriver.
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- Porto on the Douro River.
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- Porto on the Douro River. Those boats used to carry barrels of wine from upriver.
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- Port used to be stored here for ageing.
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- Porto on the Douro River.
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- Porto on the Douro River. Those boats used to carry barrels of wine from upriver.
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- Boy jumping off the Luis I Bridge.
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- Boy jumping off the Luis I Bridge.
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- Near our accommodation.
