Enter Portugal

Vila Nova de Gaia lies on the south bank of the river Douro, across from Porto. This is the historical centre of port production. Wines were brought by boat from the estates in the Douro to be matured, blended and bottled here. The lodges remain the place where most port is produced, although gradually more of the storing and bottling of the wines is being done out of town.

Many lodges (locally known as caves) have invested heavily in creating visitors centres offering tours, history guides and an opportunity to try 2 or 3 varieties. Given the range of styles of Port - White, Ruby, Tawny, Colheita etc - enthusiasts who wish to take something special back home with them, will find the opportunity to sample different styles useful before purchase.

Cálem

Cálem's visitor centre won the 2006 'Best of Wine Tourism' award and is one of the very best lodges to visit.
www.calem.pt

Croft

This firm has been active since 1588 when it was one of the very first Port shippers, although it only took its present name in 1736 when John Croft, a Yorkshire wine merchant, joined the company.
www.croftportwinelodges.com/

Graham's

Graham's Visitor Centre is one of the largest in Porto and offers tours and tasting of 3 different ports.
www.grahams-port.com

Taylors

One of the greatest of all port producers, Taylors offers a free tour followed by tasting of 2 wines in their elegant Library room. The excellent Barão de Fladgate restaurant is located within their grounds as well.
www.taylorsportwinelodges.com

Britain's long relationship with port wine is evident both from the names of the the lodges - Croft, Taylor, Graham's etc - but is also written into the landscape in the names of the streets. Rua do Barão de Forrester is named after Joseph James Forrester, who arrived in Porto in 1831 at the age of 22. A cartographer and wine lover, he spent years mapping the Douro and earned a reputation as a fine landscape and portrait painter.

He is most remembered for his impassioned campaign against the adulteration of port wines by British traders. In the 1840´s the demand for port in England had declined leaving a surplus of port that was difficult to sell. Forrester claimed the reason for this decline was due to the large amounts of brandy, elderberry and sugar that British traders were adding to the wine

In his pamphlet, A Word or Two on Port Wine, Forrester claimed that the wine had become “..a nauseous, fiery compound of sweets, colours and alcohol; consequently Port at the tables of private gentlemen soon began to appear less frequently, and it is to be feared that it is gradually falling into total dis-use”.

Forrester's views won much praise from the Portuguese vine growers, in fact he won praise from all sectors of Portuguese society for his comments, from the vine growers to generals, even from the Cardinal Patriarch.

The British trading firms were outraged and Forrester spent much time responding to their personal vilifications and insults. Whilst there were many who agreed with his comments it was several years before the traders could wean themselves off the practice of adulterating their wines.

Forrester died in slightly mysterious circumstances in 1861. Boating down the rapids of the Douro river which he had spent so many years mapping, his boat capsized and he drowned. It´s often said that he was wearing a money belt stuffed with gold coins that weighed him down, preventing him from swimming to the surface.