Lost in Douro Valley, Portugal: Wine Harvesting & Grape Stomping

Located about 1.5 hours away from Porto, Portugal, Douro Valley is one of the oldest wine regions in the world and in 2001 was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. The Douro River runs through the beautiful hills, perfectly adorned with vineyards creating patterns alongside the hills that are visually stimulating. Douro Valley is beautiful all year round, but autumn added an extra layer of beauty. The landscapes blushed with crimsons and yellows and the grapes were plump and ready for harvest. Locals have a saying that the ‘painter’ has come by during this time of year, painting the landscapes in different strokes of colour.

As an employee of the Globe and Mail (Canada’s leading newspaper), I am fortunate to have some extremely talented colleagues whose brains I can pick. This past summer the Globe organized a trip to Portugal, which included a once-in-a-lifetime cruise through the Douro Valley in Portugal. Beppi, the Globe’s wine and spirits columnist (who has since retired) co-hosted and curated a river cruise through Douro Valley and it set off a sense of curiosity in me. What was the Douro Valley? Should I be going? Other than hearing about it at work, I had never really heard about this wine region. After speaking to a colleague about their recent trip to Douro Valley (inspired by some of Beppi’s itinerary for the cruise) I began to do a little more research. As a wine lover, I knew it had to be added to my Portugal itinerary.

Douro Valley, overlooking the Douro River.

Through AirBnB Experiences (note als, I found THE experience of all experiences. A full day harvest experience in Douro Valley that included eating delicious food, visiting a family-run winery, tasting delicious wines and ports and of course: grape stomping! Grape stomping and harvesting only occur for four weeks out of the year and I was lucky that it just so happened to be during my trip to Portugal. I booked the tour.

Update: This experience can also be booked through the company’s website here.

Side Note: If you’ve never heard of Airbnb Experiences, check it out. It’s a really great way to find real, local experiences and to immerse yourself within the culture. Airbnb Experiences offers everything from food tours to night pub crawls. Literally everything. Questions I had asked myself throughout the last few days in Portugal were answered by our local tour guide, Pedro. “What’s the deal with all of the cork?” (Cork trees are everywhere in the South and there are stores that sell all kinds of cork items like hats, purses, wallets, etc.) Answer from Pedro: “Most of the cork in the world comes from Portugal”. Turns out, it is a THING here. Nothing beats a local explaining the who’s, why’s, what’s, where’s and when’s running through your head.

The trip started with a quick pit stop about 35 minutes outside of Porto, at a local bakery for some coffee and Portuguese pastries. Soon after breakfast, we were headed to Quinta de Val Da Figueira or ‘Valley of the Figs’ (which gets its name for the fig trees on the vineyard). This cute winery located by the Douro River is a family-run winery and one of the smaller wine producers in the region. Independent wineries make up only 10% of the region. This winery is known for producing the best 10 year port in the region. Port or ‘Oporto’ is a must have in Douro Valley. Port is made from fermented grapes and brandy. As Pedro described, it’s the ‘Rolls Royce’ of wine. It’s definitely an acquired taste and I personally find it too sweet, but it’s a must and I enjoyed it nonetheless.

When we arrived, we admired the beautiful grounds surrounded by an abundance of trees, including olive trees, orange trees, pomegranate trees, apricot trees and almond trees. Immediately, we were greeted with handfuls of grapes and almonds that had fallen to the ground and were cracked open in front of our eyes.

First thing on the agenda was to get changed into shorts so that we could stomp on the grapes. I remember watching the famous grape stomping episode of “I Love Lucy” when I was a kid. Of course at the time, wine meant nothing to me but the idea of mashing grapes with my feet sounded pretty fun. Not much has changed, and as an adult I still find the idea of grape stomping as a must do, bucket list item. Only now, I really appreciate the wine part as well. Grape stomping is still very much a thing in this region and there are all sorts of traditions that come with it including music and comradery . We laughed and sang and danced in a pool of grapes. It was a very therapeutic experience. 3-4 years from now, I thought, I will come back and taste the wine I helped produce.

Famous grape stomping scene from “I Love Lucy”.

Next, we headed to the wine cellar where we tasted our first 10 year old port. Delicious, sweet and full of rich flavour. Today happened to be the very last day of grape stomping and soon, the grapes we stomped on would be housed in one of the large barrels that surrounded us during our tasting.

Next stop was Quinta do Jalloto. This vineyard sat on the very top of the valley overlooking the most stunning view of the Douro Valley and river. It was lunch time and what better way to taste wine than with a beautiful charcuterie board with meats, cheeses, breads and olives. There was honey from a bee hive I could see from my table and fresh olive oil to dip the breads in. The wine came flowing, first white and then a delicious red. It was heaven.

When the owner of the cellar realized it was one of the tour guests’ birthday, he brought out a 22 year old port from the cellar and poured us all a glass. It was harvested in 1995, when I was only 11 years old and bottled in 1997. Age never tasted so good. It was incredible.

After lunch, we proceeded to the cellar to taste some more delicious ports. By this time we were all a bit tipsy and feeling a little bit giddy.

Soon after, it was time to leave this beautiful valley. Douro Valley surpassed every expectation I had, and then some. I encourage you to explore this region if you every make your way to Portugal. You can find this experience all year round on Airbnb Experiences but if you happen to visit between September 15 to October 15, you can experience the amazing harvest tour.