Four tips (with restaurants) for dining well in Porto

I hadn't anticipated our Porto visit being a "foodie" trip. I had no expectations; I was entering the unknown. While French, Italian and Spanish cuisines are all legendary, and restaurants based on their traditions fill London, Portuguese hasn't really entered our culinary cultural awareness.

How many classic dishes can you name? If told you to cook Portuguese, what ingredients would you reach for? Can you name a Portuguese restaurant or grocer? The DK Eyewitness Travel book doesn't have a food section in its guide to the country, the first time I've noticed this omission in a European destination.

I'm delighted to say that a low profile does not translate to unremarkable food. We ate as well on this trip as on more food-focused jaunts to France or Italy and, as mentioned in my earlier article, paired our meals with delicious wines at better prices than those from European neighbours. I would still have difficulty identifying what's classically "Portuguese" beyond flaky custard tarts, a deep affection for octopus, salt cod or slow-cooked pork in a variety of preparations, and the propensity to put eggs in everything; most of our meals could be included in a classic European menu without an immediate cultural affiliation. Given that we were eating at the equivalent of upscale gastropubs, with a few fine dining experiences thrown in, perhaps we missed "typical" Portuguese. All I can say with certainty is that we didn't have a bad meal, and everything was approximately 20% less than its equivalent in London, even with the current weak pound.

Here are my four tips for dining in Porto, with related restaurant recommendations.

1. Check out the Michelin men
With more reasonable prices than London, especially for the wine, Porto is a great place to splash out on Michelin-starred cuisine. Our culinary splurge of the trip was Restaurant Pedro Lemos, an elegant one-star establishment tucked into a house on an otherwise-residential street not far from the beach in  the upscale suburb of Foz. Lemos credits his grandmothers with his inspiration: one sold fish on the coast,  one was a farmer. Thus "surf and turf" threads throughout his cuisine, as he takes seasonal, traditional core elements and gives them the modern fine dining treatment. The five course chef's menu, adjusted according to allergies, is your only choice, and changes daily according to what's seasonal.

What does this look like on the plate? We started with two amuse bouche: the prettiest little dollop of fresh mozzarella with tiny tomatoes and micro herbs and a succulent mouthful of local pork with prawns. Foie gras on a disc of fruit bread with a brûléed top and a sliver of roasted nectarine kicked the proper courses off, followed by a delicate lobster curry with fresh, wild mushrooms. On to a perfectly cooked piece of white grouper complemented by white asparagus, jerusalem artichoke puree and sprigs of fennel. All light enough to leave room for beef with chanterelles and truffled potato cream, the meat so soft it fell to shreds with a gentle prompt of the fork. A bit of strawberry and vodka ice cream cleansed the palate before a choice between desserts: banana, lavender and sagu pearls (a bit too modern for me) or a comforting dark chocolate tart with a port sauce, pear and chees. We chose the wine flight, naturally, allowing the sommelier to introduce us to yet more local gems. (Except for the pairing with the lobster, when he chose to head to the Mosel.) The per-person charge for this extravaganza was £130, which is about what the menu would cost without drinks in London.

For about half that price, you can sample the style of one of Portugal's most famous chefs, Jose Avillez, at Cantinho do Avillez. Much as top chefs like Raymond Blanc and Angela Hartnett have done in the UK, Avillez expanded from his two-starred Belcanto restaurant to open more affordable, casual bistros. Booking in advance is essential; we tried to return here later in the week to find no availability for the rest of our stay. We had some amazing tuna here, with just the perfect amount of char on the outside to let the raw purity of the fish stand out. They also delivered a beef tartare that could best many French versions. I wasn't so keen on the Farinheira sausage with cornbread crust, or the poultry liver with port and onion marinade; the first was too heavy, the second too assertive in the offal flavours. But I suspect this is the closest I got to properly local tastes all week. We split their triple hazelnut desert, which was delicious. More memorable, however, was the service and ... once again ... the wine pairings.

2. Then ask the locals what's hot
When we couldn't get into Cantinho do Avillez for a second time, one of the waiters suggested a couple of local options. It was a hot tip, as Largo de Sao Domingos (LSD for short) delivered the best moderately priced meal I had the whole trip. I had a pork stew here so amazing I've been thinking about re-creating it ever since returning home. (One decent attempt, more experimentation needed.)  Desserts were a real standout here. I went for a fanciful mix called "childhood" that featured an artistic mash-up of swiss roll, oreos, m&ms and cookie dough served on a spatula. Amusing, but Piers' delicate chocolate cake with salted caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream was a masterpiece of classic elegance.

We tried twice to get into Avillez' second recommendation: Cantina 32. Booking ahead clearly required. Based on local votes on TripAdvisor (and tourists, as well) we tried Cozinha dos Loios nearby. This was my least favourite meal of the trip ... decent starter and dessert let down by a ploddingly heavy cream-based pasta with the local Farinheira sausage. My husband's main was good if not great. But the atmosphere is brilliant. You dine in an ancient, artfully lit, stone vaulted cellar that I suspect goes back to the Middle Ages. And, as if to make up for the unexceptional food, the waitresses were some of the best we met. Chatty, helpful, interested in us, at the end of the evening they opened a bottle of 40-year-old tawny port that Piers had his eye on, but wasn't on the by-the-glass menu. Based on service alone, I'd go back and try some alternative menu choices.

3. Let the waiter guide you
Of course, I could have just asked the waitress what to have. Good servers will always have a sense of what's best that day, and we found that to be particularly true in Porto where there's a big focus on fresh, local produce and the best stuff of the day may not even be on the menu. This is especially important at fish-heavy restaurants by the river or ocean.

We had lovely meals this way at waterfront restaurants Terreiro and Avo Maria. Both clearly charge a premium for the privilege of their views, but they're still value for money. (As opposed to the blatant rip offs that those picture-book-menu restaurants in high traffic tourist areas can often be.) Locals love octopus and I'd recommend it highly anywhere it's on the menu. It's tricky to cook but the Portuguese have a flair for it. Grilled, cooled, sliced like carpaccio and served beneath a salad with some vinaigrette, it was one of my go-to starters in Porto. The other was tuna tartare, on most menus and always delicious.

Our best seafood meal was at Mohle, on a terrace at the edge of the Atlantic in Foz. Like its Foz neighbour Pedro Lemos, there were as many locals as tourists here. Always a good sign. After a quick chat it was obvious we should just put ourselves entirely in the waiter's hands (see top photo). Out came pork croquettes, prawns hauled from the Atlantic the day before with a pungent garlic butter sauce, and then a noble sea bass, grilled whole and expertly filleted at the table. With matching wines, of course. And some fine port recommendations with dessert.

4. Look to the wineries
Porto's wine and port houses are clearly aware of the marketing potential of restaurants for raising margins and showing off their products.

Vinum at Grahams would be my recommended "splurge" restaurant here if you don't want to go the full Michelin star route (and price). The views are astonishing, the atmosphere elegant yet casual, the food excellent. Although I took issue with their steak tartare, which presented far too chunky a pile of raw meat for my taste. As you'd expect, the wine list is fantastic and the waiters are great at making recommendations. They also use a collection outrageous Reidel decanters that turn pouring wine into performance art. I thought the one called "the mamba" might make an excellent Christmas gift for my husband, until I discovered it retailed for £400. Sorry, darling.

We had another excellent meal deep in the Douro wine region at Quinta Nova's Conceitus.  You dine under a canopy of grape vines, looking out over those extraordinary stair-step vineyards. Choose from one of two four-course chef's menus, both at €42. Dishes include items like rabbit terrine with pistachio, cauliflower cream soup and a pork cheek slow cooked for eight hours. The highlight was a traditional cake called "Lo", a light sponge encased on three sides in crisp pastry, topped with fruit. A matching wine flight here costs €24 and is a good way to sample their range, but since we'd just done an extensive tasting we chose our own bottles.

A wine dinner at the Yeatman was a surprisingly reasonable choice. As part of its mission to promote local producers, Porto's most upscale hotel stages occasional dinners at which all the food is paired with the output of one winery. We started with sparkling wine and canapés in the hotel's main lounge (with its stunning views across the river to the historic centre) and then moved downstairs to a private room for the main event. We were the only non-Portuguese of the three large tables of guests, which demonstrates that the locals are serious about their wines, too. And probably explains the bargain pricing of €65 per person. I was worried about the language barrier, but shouldn't have been. The sommelier made sure we were seated with one of the wine makers, who could speak English and give us the insight into each vintage we sampled. Once we sat down, our menus were seamlessly swept away and replaced by English versions. These told us we were having a mixed variety of appetisers, john dory, pork with chorizo, and bilberries in different textures. Each served with a different wine from Lavradores de Feitoria, a small cooperative that produces limited batches of rigorous quality. If you're heading to Porto, it would be worth ringing ahead to see if any events like this are planned at the Yeatman during your stay.

Views, churches and a showy century dominate Porto sights

Porto is not a subtle city. It hangs its charms out there for all to see.

Its hill-climbing position allows it to arrange all of its dramatic architecture before your eyes at once: substantial monasteries, assertive public buildings, thrusting towers. Confident kings and benevolent saints atop ornate plinths. Steep streets and grand staircases emphasise the majesty of the buildings at their summits. Churches aren't just ornate on the inside: many are covered with azulejo (blue and white tile) murals bringing scenes of heavenly exuberance to the streets.  Three styles predominate: bulky medieval, ornate baroque and showy 19th century, sometimes mixed together on the same building.

And yet, despite all that opulence, Porto reminded me most of Naples and Palermo. There is faded glory and strange juxtapositions as beautifully restored buildings sit cheek by jowl with empty, roofless shells. Smelly, shabby alleyways lead off main thoroughfares. A street band on a patch that could host an 18th century costume drama with few tweaks plays American country music, while a giant, illuminated Portuguese man-of-war makes its modern artistic statement hanging above a classical square. The central market, a wonder of 19th century glass and ironwork, has been turned into a nightclub.

Nothing is quite what you expect. Which is perhaps what makes sightseeing here so much fun. I'd advise a first-time visitor to concentrate on three themes to get the essence of the place.

Churches
I don't know whether it helped or hindered my appreciation to be raised Roman Catholic, but it definitely made my reaction more emotional. Locals poured the treasures coming back from colonies into the glorification of God and the saints. I've rarely seen such a concentration of gold and silver leaf. That glory is populated by an army of lifelike, polychromed wooden statues of saints, a hefty percentage of them in gore-spattered pain. Every crucifix tries to outdo the last in its graphic depiction of Christ's anguish. If the craftsmen who did the decorating were around today, they'd be making horror films. I felt my guilt stirring, and Sister Conahan's ruler rising for a strike.

The most dominant church in town is the cathedral, but to really see sacred Porto's opulent creepiness in full flow, start at the church of St. Francis (Sao Francisco) ... the first of my top three architectural sights in town. Like many churches here, it's a medieval shell encrusted with 15th and 16th century decoration. And I use "encrusted" purposely. The wood carvings covering the altars, walls and dripping from the ceiling are so lush with foliate decoration they feel organic. It's as if this all accreted slowly as metallic creatures floated in and fixed themselves to the walls to shape this strange grotto. It's peopled by stern saints and lofty kings, paint jobs making them remarkably lifelike. Don't miss the amazing tree of Jesse on the left, where kings of Israel perch in golden branches springing from their sleeping ancestor's side. Nearby there's a life-sized young girl, sleeping or dead, tucked into a form-fitting boat as if she's about to be launched on a Viking funeral. She was so realistic I debated whether she was carved and painted wood, or one of those carefully preserved corpses the southern Italians so love. (Frustratingly, I found nothing there, or in guides, to explain this iconography, which I'd never seen before.) Most dramatic is the altar to the Moroccan martyrs, five Franciscans whose missionary work led to their deaths in the 13th century.  We join the scene mid-execution, when one turbaned bad guy is holding up the severed head of the first victim, while the other Moor's sword bites into the neck of the second. There's plenty of blood. The three priests waiting between them, however, have a look of patient resignation as they gaze heavenward. Our lesson: life sucks, get your reward in heaven.

Now head up to the cathedral (Se in Portuguese). More gilt foliage and polychromed saints against grim medieval walls. In the main church, the blockbuster is the solid silver side altar, to the right of the main. Unfortunately it's badly in need of a polish; you wouldn't know it was silver without being told. But there's enough glimmer there to let you appreciate the magnificence beneath. The real highlight here, however, is the cloisters, which have an admissions charge. It's worth it. The sides of the groin-vaulted aisles are lined with scenes in azulejo, bringing some levity to all the religiousity. (It's hard to be grim or threatening in blue and white.) There are attractive side chapels, intriguing tombs, an impressive vestry and a grand staircase. Follow it up for a second-level cloister with good views and another massive tile mural that's decidedly secular, with scenes from classical mythology. This is clearly where the priests came to relax.

It's also worth checking out the sibling Carmelite churches near the famous fountain of the winged lions. Many of Porto's churches are cloaked in azulejo, but this one is most noticeabe because the scenes run down the whole side of the building and are visible across a vast square. Churches for the monks and nuns sit side by side, connected by a tiny, narrow house for the priest who looked after both. It's interesting to compare styles. While they both feature more of the city's trademark gold and silver gilt, lifelike wooden saint statues and twisting columns, the monks' church is muscular and loud in its decorative messaging. The nuns have much more white, light and delicacy ... an altogether more pleasant place to worship in this female correspondent's eyes.

The 19th Century
Portuguese fortunes were in a precipitous free-fall throughout the century, with colonies breaking away, global political power fading and the royal family engaging in dynastic struggles worthy of Game of Thrones. You'd never guess it from Porto, however, where the architecture tells a different story. (A fine proof point that a centre of international trade can outperform the country it's in.)

The best place to see this is the stock exchange building (palacio da bolsa), my second top sight. It's a procession of grand interiors, full of lofty ceilings, exuberant decoration and dramatic murals. Highlights include the main trading hall ... surrounded by gracious arcades and topped with a glass roof framed with colourful crests of the city's trading trading partners ... and a tribunal room where judicial hearings could take place framed by carved hardwoods and scenes of the past. There's an enfilade of grand reception rooms. The blockbuster, however, is an Arab room that's a colourful Aladdin set on steroids.

The traders making their money here bought their books in Livraria Lello, without question the most beautiful bookstore I've ever entered. It comes from the same arts and crafts, historic revival tradition as London's Liberty store, though it's much smaller and resolutely neo-gothic in its design. Fan-vaulted ceilings, gothic-arched bookshelves, gargoyles, heraldic crests, stained glass. In the centre is a remarkable staircase that rises, splits, and continues upwards in two graceful half-circles before meeting at the top. It's a lovely place, and would be perfect for a lingering, soul soothing browse (plenty of English books here as well as Portuguese) were it not jam packed with boisterous Harry Potter fans. J.K. Rowling lived in Porto when she was coming up with the concept of Potter's world and drafting the first book. Lello's is supposed to be the inspiration for Ollivander's wand shop, which is why you now have to queue up to buy a €4 ticket to get in. (Refunded if you buy anything.)

Those 19th century business magnates moved west out of the city centre and started building impressive homes for themselves, some of which you can see on the tour bus route to the beach suburb of Foz. On the way you'll encounter the wonderfully bombastic Peninsular War Memorial. (Just across from the Casa da Musica, the city's greatest contribution to modern architecture.) A massive memorial column rises from the centre of a circular green park. Above a foundational plinth, larger-than-lifesize bronze soldiers and citizens are springing forth with action as they load cannons, thrust bayonets, pass along ammunition and shield their children. At the top of the column, a British lion fierce enough to make his cousins in Trafalgar Square look like pussycats is taut with tension as he prepares to rip the neck out of the prostrate French eagle pinned beneath him. Ironic, but typical, that the most triumphalist British war memorial you'll ever see is in another country.

If you stop to see this, it's worth your time to stroll a couple of blocks out of your way to see the Agramonte Cemetery. Dating from a cholera epidemic in 1855, it turned into the burial ground for the great and the good of Porto. It's a necropolis of free-standing family tombs, chapels and memorials laid out along avenues for promenading, much like London's Highgate (though not as spooky) or Paris' Pere Lachaise (but fewer names you know). There's a pleasing pastiche of architectural styles and some impressive statuary, and it's free to enter.

Dramatic views
A city set on such steep hills has, naturally, fantastic views. Much of the fun of Porto is simply maneuvering yourself into one of the many excellent places for enjoying them.

For the highest and most comprehensive perspective, hike up to the esplanade in front of the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar. No wonder this place became Wellington's HQ during the Peninsular Wars. Your position across from and above the historic city centre gives you a panoramic view. (See top photo) You also can see most of the port district on the south bank, several bridges and a good distance up and down the river.

While you're here, pay the €1 to get into the small bit of the monastery that's open. (The rest is a military facility, as it's been since Wellington handed it back to the Portuguese.) You get to see a highly unusual and very beautiful circular cloister, which is my third architectural highlight of the city. It's beautiful, soothing and unique in its shape. A shame that the round church it's built to match isn't open.

Another fine view from the south side of the river is to be had at Vinum Restaurant at Graham's port house. You're lower than the monastery here, but still high enough to have an impressive swathe of scenery unfold. From here, that beautiful monastery and the impressive arch of the Dom Luis I bridge take centre stage. (And you can linger over lunch while appreciating it.) The view while walking over the top deck of that bridge is also worth your time. If you can, time your crossing to hit sunset ... which will be right in front of you ... and you may get lucky with striking red skies.

On the old town side of the river, head for the cathedral. This is the matching promontory to the monastery across the river. Now you can see how impressive the port houses are as they nestle into the hills beside the Douro. Lean on the balustrade at the edge of the large plaza and look down on the buildings and roofs stacked below you to get an idea of just how steep the terrain is.  The energetic may wish to climb Clerigos Tower for another God-like view of the historic centre. A more relaxing option is to take in the view from the Jardins do Palacio de Cristal.

I wouldn't put this place high on your list if you're short of time. The gardens are pleasant but unimpressive against English comparisons, and the current crystal "palace" is an early 20th century modernist dome that doesn't live up to the romance of its name. It's a relaxing place for a walk along gravel paths, however, admiring peacocks and art nouveau garden enhancements. There's a little cafe next to a lake that's a wonderful spot for relaxation. The original designers did a fine job planning the vistas: sometimes it's all laid out before you, other times trees and shrubs conspire to give you just a small window onto the world beyond.

There's plenty to see that I didn't mention ... these are just my highlights. The churches and the other architecture might not appeal to everyone, but you must pay attention to those views. Porto has taken the trouble to spread itself before you. Enjoy it.

Head to Porto to discover the range, beauty of Portuguese wines

We went for the wine.

Porto has innumerable charms, and we planned to sample them all. But everything came back to this region's oldest and most famous export. We wanted to understand fortified port wine beyond the ubiquitous ruby splashed into end-of-banquet glasses, grasp more of the process and be able to differentiate better between styles and labels. We wanted to learn more about the non-fortified wines; back home, everything we tasted from Portugal was always great ... why was it so little-known? We even immersed ourselves in a vinous hotel: The Yeatman is part of the Taylor's Port empire and was founded to promote the local drink in all its forms.

If you, too, are a wine lover, you'll need a minimum of four days here ... though I'd recommend a week. (Your liver will thank you for a fortnight, however, so you can drink in a bit more moderation.)

Here are my wine-lovers' top tips for Porto.
1) Spread your port tasting across the trip, doing a bit each day
2) Find a local wine bar to be your tasting HQ
3) Head upriver to check out the wineries, spending at least one night there
4) Indulge in some nice meals with matching wines
5) Splash out on a tutored tasting at the Yeatman

Port Tasting
Port is a wondrous thing. It is also very strong and extremely sweet. Even if you spit rather than drink (and the lack of spitoons here suggests that's rare), most people's taste buds would move beyond the ability to differentiate much after the second port house. One or two houses a day, ideally visited just after lunch, is the ideal schedule. Some of the port houses also have restaurants, so you can combine the two.

Though you'll find port everywhere in town, you'll want to go to the source and do your tasting at the lodges on the south side of the Douro. All of the big names, and some you've never heard of, are clustered together. Climate, geography and shipping conspired to establish a tradition of making wine upstream, then bringing it to this district of Vila Nova de Gaia for the critical aging that produces the magic. Most houses offer a tour ending with samples. They all follow the American style of paying for tastings, whether you go on a tour or not, but you get a lot in your glass for your money. Your tasting will usually include the house's ruby (mass produced, inexpensive) and an LBV or young tawny (a bit of wood aging gives depth). It's important to note that you don't have to go on the tour to taste; while there are variations, once you've seen the inside of one lodge they are much the same. While tastings are reasonable, don't buy bottles here. Quick internet searches at each place (all provide free WiFi) showed that prices were always better at home on brands available in the UK. Also note that you can upgrade your tasting to the nicer stuff.

At Sandeman's, for example, you can go on the standard tour and then upgrade your tasting. We splashed out €35 for their tawny tasting, where we could work our way through their 10, 20, 30 and 40 year-olds. The tour here is nothing special, but the tour guides wear the brand's iconic Zorro-esque hat and cape, which makes it quite atmospheric. The tour up the hill at Croft's was superior. They seem to get much less traffic here and the guides are more experienced. Ours had been with the company for decades and was delighted to delve into whatever areas of detail we wanted to explore. Taylor's tour is an audio guide, disappointing on the personal interaction front, though I would have appreciated it more had I done it later in the trip. Because it's self-paced, it allows you to dig into much more depth than the others, so better after you've learned the basics elsewhere. They have the most beautiful tasting room we visited, however: a Regency-style tent-ceilinged cellar looking out onto rose gardens, peacocks and the old family mansion.

If you take the hop-on-hop-off bus tour you'll get a free tour and tasting at Cockburn's, which will explain why their enormous tasting hall has the noisy feel of an Octoberfest beer tent. Ramos Pinto has another pretty room, and a great branding story with their artistic posters, but even their old tawnys have a cherry cough syrup finish we disliked intensely. Ferreira's has a resolutely Portuguese story in an Anglo-heavy industry, but their local tradition includes closing for a long lunch, so plan accordingly. (We didn't.) For the ultimate port-tasting indulgence, swap the tours and tasting rooms for Vinum restaurant at Grahams. Magnificent view, great food, impressive wine list and a port cart to choose from at the end of the meal. The three of us each tried a different version and shared, though we did not splash out on the 90-year-old, nor on the 19th-century tipple in the customised crystal decanter.

Our conclusions on the taste front? Nothing swayed us from our existing preference for 20-year-old tawny, which has a combination of woody depth and lightness we love. And though we tasted some excellent ones, nothing was distinct enough to woo the Bencards away from our current Berry Brothers own label as our regular brand. The 40-year-olds were like Christmas in a glass, and we noted much more variation here between the houses than with the younger ports. But the 40s' distinct flavour profile limits them to drinking on their own after a very special meal. Cockburn's has a surprisingly tasty ruby, somehow managing to get a bit of depth and sophistication into this entry-level product. White port is a fabulous aperitif that deserves more attention, and is particularly good when mixed with tonic and some orange peel (the classic port tonique).

The Local Wine Bar

Our standard modus operandi on our girls' trips is to find a nearby bar with friendly, talkative locals who enjoy giving advice. In Porto, it was Vinofino on the Rua das Flores, not far from the central train station. In a region with such a vast array of wines, this place helps you to navigate. There's a wide array of bottles open for wines by the glass, far more than appear on any menu. Trust the staff and let them help you explore. They're great at asking about your preferences and then suggesting options. I spotted plenty of other wine bars with extensive by-the-glass selections. I suspect they were equally good. Find one and become a temporary local; the service and recommendations will get better on each successive visit.

Head Upriver
The Douro valley is one of the most dramatic wine regions in the world. The vineyard slopes are impossibly steep, only made workable by a crazy-quilt of terraces. Sometimes they're only one row of vines deep, but continue all the way up the mountains, giving the whole valley the appearance of curving green staircases plunging to a narrow band of water below. Even if you never tasted a sip of wine, it would be worth coming here just to see the remarkable countryside.

It is not, however, an easy trip. We splashed out on our own driver, who was also a guide. (€300 for the day, plus tip.) Given the fact that it take nearly two hours to get to the heart of the region, and that the driving once you get there features a challenging procession of hairpin turns at high altitudes with frightening drops to one side, we were delighted with the choice. Roger filled the long drive with stories of Portuguese history, wine and culture. Our wine tasting also benefitted from his insider knowledge: when slow service at our first destination crashed into the scheduled time for our second tasting, Roger found a better option.

Aneto Winery was the highlight of our day, and the kind of place almost impossible to find without insider tips. Winemaker and owner Francisco Montenegro started developing his little piece of heaven in 2001, but worked as a wine making consultant at bigger brands until more recently. Now he operates from a beautifully-designed little winery where modern architecture sits comfortably with tradition. Upon entry through a cement-and-glass cube of a lobby, you'll look out onto a modernist storage area cradling a resolutely old-fashioned store of hand-crafted oak barrels, beyond which a giant glass wall lays the valley before you. Next door, the equipment may be the latest, but the newly-harvested grapes were awaiting the tread of human feet. This most ancient of pressing techniques is still widely practiced in the Douro, where winemakers insist that nothing else works so well in getting the juice out, while not crushing the stems and pips. Maybe that's why the wines here tend to have both rich fruit and subtle complexity, without harsh tannins. You'll need to make an appointment to come here, but the tasting and the intimacy of the experience is worth the effort. So's the wine: we all shipped bottles home.

Earlier in the day we visited Quinta Nova, one of the better-known producers in the area. We were less impressed by the wines, but have rarely done a tasting while taking in a better view. We enjoyed the tour ... especially since it was mid-harvest so we saw production going on ... and had a great lunch. No surprise they've turned this beautiful place into a luxury B&B as well.

Given the winding roads and the travel distance, B&B for a couple of nights would be an even better way to visit the vineyards.  Other possibilities are to take a boat from Porto (there are multiple options, but it's a full day trip and you spend a lot of time going through locks) or to take the train.

Great Food
I talked to a local who was emphatic about this point: "We don't drink without eating. Portuguese wines are made to go with food and are best enjoyed that way." While I, personally, would disagree ... the fruity, rich-yet-mellow-reds are all the accompaniment I need while curled up with a good book in front of the fire ... she has a point. Because the locals think this way, restaurants are a great place to do your wine tasting. Not just in fancy places with sommeliers, but in everyday spots. In this, I think the Portuguese may be better than most.

I've found French service to be curiously ignorant of food and wine pairing. The onus is on the diner to make the selection; if you ask them to match for you, you may simply be relegated to whatever is opened. The Italians will usually default to terroir, recommending whatever is grown and produced closest. The Californians are keen to oblige, but their prices will break the budget. The Portuguese not only know their wine and food pairing, but even nicer restaurants have great choices in the €20 - €30 range.

All the restaurants we visited had generous wine lists, and we saw little repetition across them. The number of producers here is staggering, which is another reason to trust the staff. I'll write a separate entry on restaurants, but here I'll call out Cantinho do Avillez and Largo Sao Domingos, both in the historic city centre, for a reasonably priced and impressive experience. If you want to go high end, head toward the beach for Restaurant Pedro Lemos in Foz. The wine flight here matches the chef's menu with all the confidence and quirky innovation you expect from a Michelin star restaurant, but draws the majority of its choices from those little-known Portuguese producers who deserve wider acclaim.

Tutored Tasting
For the ultimate in Portuguese wine education, put yourself into the assured hands of the staff at the Yeatman Hotel. The place is owned by a wine dynasty and exists to promote the wines of Portugal. The staff and the wine cellar are full of the quality you'd expect. They have plenty of wine-related events ... just check their web site for a schedule ... and you don't have to stay here to attend. They're also happy to customise tasting events to your wishes.

The first part of my trip marked a friend's 50th birthday. Our gift to her (and to ourselves!) was a tutored masterclass with hotel sommelier Elisabete Fernandes. Our trio settled into the Yeatman's glamorous wine cellar, surrounded by natural stone and thousands of bottles, ancient grape vines twisting along the ceiling above. We sampled two whites, three reds and a port, with examples coming from across Portugal. The generous spread of meats, cheeses, nuts and pastries was ample to play around with flavour matching and as a substitute for lunch. We learned an enormous amount, from the nuances that distinguish Portuguese wine to the quirky stories of individual producers to specific details of what was in each glass. It was hard to pick a favourite, as each was as tasty as the one before. Until we reached the summit of our tasting: a 1966 Croft vintage Port in honour of Lisa's birth year. It was a privilege to taste. A pure amber in colour, far less sweet yet almost syrupy thick, full of complex notes of spice, wood and nuts.

Prices for customised experiences change depending on the details. Don't be put off by the room rate of the hotel; the wine events are more reasonable than you'd think. While the tasting was a splurge, it also provided value for money when we considered the cost of six special glasses and accompanying food. Add on Elisabete's expertise, totally devoted to us, and it was a bargain.

Sadly, most of the wines we tasted were difficult ... if not impossible ... to track down in the UK. The Yeatman offers a wine club to get around this issue. We signed up, of course! There are varying levels and prices. We're having four cases a year delivered to Hampshire, a mix of bottles of the Yeatman's choice. Delivery is included and the cost comes out at an average of £14 a bottle, though I suspect a case will comprise a range from high-end reds to more affordable whites. A reasonably-priced way to remember an extraordinary wine trip.

5 reasons to put Porto on your bucket list

We have a rule for our annual girls' trip: if you're marking a birthday year that ends in "0", you get to choose the destination. My friend Lisa's desire to stay at the legendary Yeatman Hotel, and to explore the wines made upriver from there, prompted my first trip to Portugal.

What a discovery! It's perhaps shameful that a place so close to England in distance and allegiance can seem "off the beaten track", but the truth is that Portugal's profile is far lower than its more popular European neighbours. Of the handful I know who've visited, most went for the Algarve, a top British pick for beach holidays. Despite its long links to England, few are familiar with Northern Portugal and its chief city of Porto.

Here are five reasons why you should move Porto further up your holiday priority list.

ONE: IT'S EUROPE'S GREATEST WINE SECRET
Port makes it unsurprising as a wine destination. If you're English, this place's eponymous drink has probably concluded many of your life's most memorable meals. The sweet, fortified wine is made further up the Douro valley, shipped down to Porto for aging and then on to the rest of the world. The British have loved it for centuries, and political circumstance put them in charge of many of the biggest makers in the early 19th century.  Today, clever marketing departments have ensured a great port tourism experience, with the traditional port lodges on the south side of the river offering tours and tastings to meet every budget and level of interest.

But there's much more here than the sweet stuff. The Douro is one of Europe's oldest wine growing regions; their first big export market was ancient Rome. The locals even claim to be the inventors of the DOC system that restricts the ability to brand a wine according to its region. Many vineyards have vines older than a century, the starting point for fabulously rich and complex products. Steep slopes formed of easily cracked schist rock create perfect drainage while capturing the sun, while their unique terraces are spectacular to see. In fact, they whole region is a UNESCO World Heritage site because of their architectural impact on the land. Further north, you'll find some of Europe's greatest easy-drinking whites. They're all available in Porto, which has enough wine-by-the-glass offerings to keep your body in a constant, gentle pickle across your whole holiday. Best of all, most of these "table wines" (as the locals call all their non-fortified wines) are little known, rarely exported and fantastic value for money. I don't expect this state to last, so visit now to make your discoveries and invest while the price is cheap.

TWO: IT'S FAMILIAR YET EXOTIC
Portugal is a mainstream a European country that's had a continuous alliance with England since 1386 (the world's oldest). At first it all seems very familiar. Lots of churches, windy streets, picturesque architecture, sidewalk cafes. Plenty of words on signs are familiar. Most people speak English. And yet, it's not like anywhere else. The language as spoken is full of "shush"es and strange cadences, like someone mixed Spanish, Russian and some mysterious ancient texts to come up with a new dialect for a race from a fantasy novel. The architecture is as elegant as Paris or Rome, but the tiled exteriors are unlike anything I've seen elsewhere in Europe, and the churches are so encrusted with precious metals they feel almost pagan. Beautifully restored buildings sit cheek-by-jowl with crumbling ruins being reclaimed by strangling carpets of blue-blooming morning glories. This lends the city a slightly seedy decadence reminiscent of Naples or Palermo, but the locals have the sophisticated style of Milan or Madrid.

Much of the food seems familiar, yet there are oddities. Like their proud ability to cook a different salt cod recipe for every day of the year. (Why the passion with dried fish when the whole country is a narrow strip next to the aquatic larder of the Atlantic?) They outdo even Greece with their abundance of octopus recipes, and I've never visited a country more in love with the egg. It seems to dominate everything, from the custard tart that is the national pastry to fried versions lobbed atop most sandwiches. With their snack of lupin beans I discovered my first completely new food in years. The nation's history brings similar surprises. Most of us have some sense of Portugal during the Age of Discovery, their colonisation of Brazil and their role during the Napoleonic Wars. But there's so much more to discover. They have glorious heroes, romantic poets and wildly dysfunctional royals. Turns out St. Anthony of Padua ... who I was raised to respect as the most Italian of saints, and whose statue occupied all of our homes ... was Portuguese. Discovering Porto's unique take on European culture was like finding out that my favourite, long-dead author had written a series of books I somehow missed.

THREE: IT'S EASY ON THE EYES
Porto offers one of the world's greatest urban riverfronts, in duplicate. Both sides clamber up steep slopes, providing views from the opposite bank like the architectural capriccios of artists' imaginations. Stolid 18th century warehouses, Baroque fantasies encrusted with ornament, grim Romanesque piles, 19th century statements of financial confidence, modern apartment blocks all contribute to the pastiche. Harry Potter fans are delighted to discover that J.K. Rowling lived here while drafting the first book in the series. Twisting cobbled alleys, caped college students, an extravagant fountain of winged lions and an opulent neo-gothic bookstore with a sinuous, fairy-tale staircase all influenced the style of the wizarding world. The river gorge is spanned by bridges that are truly wondrous in their architectural daring; the oldest by Gustave Eiffel of Parisian tower fame. Most days dawn with ghostly fog dancing up the Douro, burning off by mid-morning. The sun sets where the river flows into the sea, painting the sky with extraordinary colours every night we were there, gilding the river and the windows of the city with the same gaudy sparkle on display in their church altars.  Head upstream, and the system of steep terraces gives you some of the most spectacular wine country on the planet. It's a dramatic, luscious, theatrical set of a place.

FOUR: NATIVES OFFER AN ABUNDANT WELCOME
If he was lying, he did it well. "We love the English!" Our driver insisted. You are our oldest allies.
Your families settled here and still run some of our biggest businesses. You rescued us from Napoleon when the Spanish betrayed us and our own royal family ran away. (The peninsular war monument topped by a bristling, confident English lion ripping the neck out of a tragically submissive French eagle leaves no room for mis-interpretation.) "You are more like our cousins than people from another country!" Whether this was true or a spectacularly fine line for the tourists, we chose to believe it. Certainly we've rarely met more uniformly cheerful, helpful and enthusiastic service. From luxury hotel to inexpensive restaurant, wine bar waiter to nun-on-the-street, it seemed that the driving ambition of everyone we met in Porto was to go out of their way to make us love their city. Nobody was ever in a hurry ... stopping to chat with us seemed more enjoyable than whatever they were off to do. Waiters were keen to offer details on the food, keener still to tell us what was best that day whether or not it was on the menu and could even be talked into offering wines by the glass from special bottles they probably shouldn't have opened.

It helps that almost everyone speaks good English. The exception, oddly, are the taxi drivers, most of whom speak only Portuguese and make it painfully obvious that Portuguese pronunciation is very different from the written word. Having your destination written down for them is a good idea, as is a strong set of nerves as they endanger their brakes and transmissions careering around precipitous, cobbled corners.  In eight days I encountered just two grumpy people. Both had tedious jobs ferrying tourists up, down and across the Douro. Otherwise, this seems a charmed place where everyone seems to love their jobs.

FIVE: GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY 
Even with a plunging pound, Porto offers bargains. Restaurants seemed to be about 20% cheaper than their London equivalents. Taxis are a bargain, rarely costing more than €10 to get from one side of town to another and about €20 to get in from the airport. If there are two or more of you, it's not worth wasting the time checking out public transport. All of the port houses charge for tastings, but it's a nominal fee compared to Northern California's wineries and the pours are generous. Reasonable wine prices prevail from Michelin-star restaurants to humble wine bars, as if the industry has colluded to encourage you to drink as much as possible. Even at the magnificently luxurious Yeatman Hotel (the catalyst for this whole trip, where rooms are a blow-the-budget extravagance) you can get wine by the glass for €4. The equivalent at a London hotel with that kind of view would be €12 or more.

Tempted yet? If not, in coming days I'll write more about wine, sightseeing, architecture, food and accommodation. Like all those cheerful Porto natives, I want you to be thinking about booking your visit before I'm finished.