Douro Valley

This is the spectacularly beautiful heart of the wine industry located up river from Porto. The scenery is so extraordinary that the 1st 6 pictures all show it. They are taken from various perspectives: from the deck of a traditional river boat to high on the hillsides on both sides of the river. The views are considered to be some of the best in the world.
The 7th picture is of Pinhão, often thought of as the center of the district. This was taken from the traditional boat.
The last 3 pictures were taken at Quinta do Seixo. A quinta is a farm or vineyard where, in this case, the grapes for local wine and port are grown. Both table wine and port are produced. And there is a small olive oil industry, too, using olives from the trees separating quintas.
I'm told that many of the producers here still crush the grapes in the traditional way, by foot. At Quinta do Seixo, crushing is done robotically in the vats in the 8th picture. The mechanism is visible at the rear of the picture. The 9th picture is some port aging in oak barrels in their cellar. The last picture is the Sandeman logo. I'm told that the silhouette is intended to reflect both Spanish and Portuguese tradition as the business began with sherry in Spain and expanded to port.Read more