Today is Gill's birthday, there was thunder and lightning overnight, I am not sure if this was some sort of sign. The city with its many churches and cathedrals is on one side of the river, the other side is full of warehouses dedicated to port. Yesterday was spent on the city side of the river visiting churches, today we crossed over to visit another religious establishment, Churchill's port lodge for a tour and the all important tasting.
To be allowed to be called port the grapes must be grown in the Douro valley between Porto and the Spanish border. The main vineyards are in a steep sided valley which gets a lot of rain, is well irrigated and very hot in summer, too hot for storing the wine so it is brought down river to Porto which is cooler, stored in large stone warehouses for a number of years before being bottled. All the famous brands are here, Graham's, Sandiman, Taylor's etc.
Churchills is a smaller producer who have only been going for 40 years, as the founder is from the Graham family he could not use his name so called the vineyard Churchill which is his wife's maiden name. The tour was very good and yes we did get to drink the five different varieties lined up in front of Gill. I preferred the Reserve Port whist Gill thought the Tawny was nicer, both are matured in oak barrels and are made from a blend of different grapes. The difference is the length of time spent in the oak barrels. We both also like white port but those we have had before are much lighter than the bottle on the right which tastes more like a sherry. White port served cold is a very nice aperitif.
We both like Porto, it is fairly compact, the food is good and there are lots of interesting buildings although we were surprised to find a huge mural of Alan Bennet on one of them! I did look up the artist and apparently it is a generic picture of "an old man extending his hand in friendship". Well it looks like Alan to me.
There are a great many tourists and two places we were hoping to visit have long queues outside so we have given them a miss so far. One is a bookshop! The queue was at least 100 yards long and they charge entry (although you get your money back if you actually buy a book). But it is nice to just wander round the streets, admire the buildings and have the odd glass of something or a coffee.
Last night it was pouring with rain so we had dinner in a restaurant next door to our hotel which specialises in a local delicacy which is anything but delicate. It is called Francesinha (Little French Woman) and is a "sandwich" made of soggy dough, filled with meat covered in cheese and sitting in gravy. It was invented by a Frenchman in 1952 in the restaurant we visited but is now sold throughout Porto, the Portuguese version of suet pudding.
As mentioned yesterday we are off to a posh dinner tonight, a full report will be posted tomorrow.
Made with
Mobirise.com