As I continue slowly catching up on finishing the *many* review drafts of places I visited in our…read morewhirlwind tour of Portugal in January, in this case one of a whole bunch of port-focused wineries within convenient walking distance of each other, that obviously being why I chose to stay at an airbnb on this side of the bridge, so I could visit as many of them as possible. Funny enough, at first glance, this tasting room felt *very* corporate - there's tons of space to spread out, but the overall vibe of the place was something like "museum gift shop". You can tell the receptionist is just a receptionist and has nothing to do with the wine's creation, which isn't inherently bad, it just sets a different tone than some of the *smallest* port tasting rooms. That said, their prices were extremely reasonable pretty much all across the board, including a base flight for 12.50 euros that had multiple standouts for the trip, enough so that this was the only tasting room where I went back a couple days later and self-constructed a second 20 euro flight that included a couple of their more somewhat more bottles. Though, funny enough, it was mostly their cheapest bottles that impressed me the most in their complexity of flavor - their tawny reserve, the Lagrima das Damas, the Lacrimosas, the base (slightly less sweet) white, and one truly interesting bottle, a Vinho Quinado, effectively a tawny port turned into an amaro with quinine and other botanicals, which as a cocktail nerd, obviously I loved learning about and trying. They *have* plenty of very expensive bottles, but the ones I mentioned were, as of when I visited a couple months ago, just *ludicrously* well-priced for how good they were. (I bought the most bottles here of anywhere I went, 3 including the Vinho Quinado - and would definitely have bought a couple more, if luggage weight hadn't been such a consideration.) I totally wasn't expecting to love their cheapest bottles, honestly, more than some of the much pricier ones I tried, here and elsewhere.

From a Kanaka, as you walk in, it seems like a typical tourist trap. Counter, Plexi glass, brand…read morenames all over. Not homey like the smaller port tasting spots. We took the $20 tour. Good history-buff tour. Warm in the museum. Bit stuffy but a great place to view memorabilia and learn the history of this influential family. Ended with a port tasting that was quiet nice. I prefer smaller tasting groups thene being part of a large scheduled group. Service was very good.

Vinologia is a really great spot to try a bunch of different port wines, as well as learn about the…read moredifferent kinds. Before coming here I thought there was only one type of port... How ignorant! There's so many! The port I know and love are the aged Tawny ports. Another category is called Ruby, and they're the juicier, sweeter redder ones: very delicate, not much wood flavour. They talked about the Vintage and Late Bottle Vintage (LBV) for the Ruby ports. There's also white ports, and they can be dry or sweet and are generally served as an apéritif. There's also colheitas which are single year Tawny ports from a really good year, which needs to be announced by the governing body. Really neat stuff. Definitely a high bar for wine standards. You can do 3 or 6 samples, 30 cl each, in either the base level or the more premium stuff. I did the tasting of 6 premium ones. The atmosphere isn't the most spacious or comfortable but you're not there for that, you're there for the port! They show all the bottles with the glasses so you can read them and take your time experiencing them and comparing them. It was a really great experience and I would highly recommend it to get a proper port experience.

We had a great time here today with our expert Ines. We sampled 3 different types of 10 year ports…read moreand splurged on the 10, 20, 30 and 40 yr ports.

My group participated in the port and chocolate tasting. It included a tour of the caves with a…read moreknowledgeable tour guide, followed by a three port tasting with dark chocolate truffles. A great way to learn about the history of port at Sandeman.

We all highly recommend taking their tour & do their tasting. We suggest the chocolate tasting so…read moreyou can try their white port as well. Their cinnamon truffle to eat with their port was Amazing! Our guide was fabulous. He was funny, kind & knowledgeable! We learned a lot. Absolutely a must, in my opinion while on the Douro River in Gaia! Come'mon! It is so cool to see the floors made of wood, the barrells & barrels of port.

Amazing tour! This is a must do if you're in the area. We got a tour of the facilities and had a…read morefun tour guy who taught us a ton. I was amazed at the size of the wine barrels. We did the wine tasting with chocolate and also got the port and tonic drink and a cheese board. Highly recommend doing it all! Make sure you make a reservation or better yet, buy your tickets in advance. All the wines were delicious and they have shipping back to the US!

We signed up for a Fado and wine tasting here because we were interested in learning about Port…read morewine and also liked the idea of experiencing a traditional Fado. The tour was informative and the guide was very knowledgeable. After the tour, they offer you 2 port wines to try as you get to listen to the beautiful fado played by the very skilled musicians. There were two singers and both did a lovely job. It was also fun that we were seated almost family style in large elevated picnic-type tables. We met some great people while also getting to enjoy the music and wine. This might be one of the more well-known which also equals touristy places, but overall the experience is top notch and a decent value for the price.

A great stop in Porto for anyone interested in port wine and Portuguese wine heritage. Calém (Kopke…read moreGroup) offers a well-organized and informative tour that walks you through the history of port production, aging processes, and the Douro Valley wine region in a clear and engaging way. They offer 45-minute tours in multiple languages. Our tour guide was informative and kindly tolerated my non-stop questions. One standout detail: their largest aging barrels are big enough to fit a car inside. The guided portion ends with a well-curated tasting, accompanied by explanations of flavor profiles and styles. (Tickets are under 25 euros.)

I really enjoyed Offley. With the exception of bigger Port cellars like Taylor's, most offer timed…read morelanguage tours, so do not expect to walk-in and immediately be able to tour (had I known, I would have made reservations). Offley's English tour was the earliest walk-in I could find on a Sunday (11:30, I think) and even though I waited, I was happy I went. I forget my guide's name, but she was great. It's an active cave, so you can see the aging Ports. Learning the history was interesting. Even if you've done various wineries/distilleries/breweries, Port has a different backstory, and each cellar has a different backstory, so it was still engaging. I thought I would be bored, because let's be honest, visiting these places is all about the drinking, but I wasn't bored at all. I think the tour and tasting took a little over an hour total, but I was lingering over the tasting. The tasting room is absolutely gorgeous. I enjoyed my Ports. I opted for the Reserve tasting and tried the Branco, Ruby, and Tawny, enjoying the Tawny the most. I highly recommend Offley as a stop on your Port tour.

The staff are really helpful and knowledgeable about their product range. I went for the wine…read moreflight for white port and fell in love with the late bottled vintage Porto. They have many of the standard port options as other cellars but had the best range of white ports I found anywhere and they staff like Teresa were super helpful explaining which was one that I might like.

We went there for some Port Wine Tasting. The staff was very helpful. The place had a modern…read moremotiff. Their Port Wine Selection was good. We got to try 5 different types. Each of them had their own unique character. I was trying to pair each with the proper food in my mind while tasting each. The White would definitely work with either poultry or fish. The Rosé would make a great spritz. The Tawny was our all-around favorite. It would make a great companion to any dish. The Ruby would really work with any meat. The Crusted was really interesting. For some reason, braised short ribs came to my mind. This experience is worth it. Try it out yourself!

We arrived tired after an early morning train ride from Lisbon…read more As we were playing tourists at Porto's Sao Bento Station, I discovered a TimeOut Market neon sign by the tracks. We weren't hungry as we just had breakfast at our hotel, but we risked our gluttonous spirits. and went inside the market which eventually led us to this tasting room (Sala de Prova in literal English). We opted to sit at a window table with a very nice view of Porto. Got our 2009 Tawny and Reserve Ruby ports and we (despite being full) added garlic edamame and oysters (€3 each & ouch). Sipped, snacked and snapped happened. What a view. Ticked off port tasting from our to-do list. Quiet pricey, but I guess they do have to pay for the tower that they were located in.

We knew Kopke did not take reservations but still really wanted to go since it's the oldest port…read morehouse so we got there right at 10am when they opened and there was no line. The staff led us upstairs and the tasting room is pretty small. We chose the classic wine and port flight which was only 26 euros and came with two ports, three wines, and some light snacks. Everything was delicious and the view over the water was incredible. This is a must do if you go to Porto!!

So this is now a review from *several* months ago, one of, thankfully, only a handful left from our…read moretrip months ago to Portugal, way more exciting than normal life. Obviously while I was in Porto, one of the most important goals I had for the trip was to try *as* many different Port wines, directly from tasting rooms, as I could while I was there. I wrote down a bunch of notes of everywhere I went, food/drink-wise... didn't think it'd take me this many months to get through them all, lol. So obviously, they might not still have the same wines I tried while I was there, especially the table wines. I imagine everything else is pretty similar a few months later, though. They have a very classy, relaxing second-floor space - I had a table to myself, overlooking the river. One of the best spots for getting a view of the river, especially pretty just as the sun was going down. It definitely wasn't the cheapest tasting room in the city, but the space kinda makes up for that. So did, unexpectedly, a really nice, wonderful plate of craft chocolates to go with the glasses of Port I had, multiple flavors. That said, I ended up being less impressed with most of the Port I tried than I thought I would be, especially for the price. All three I tried were decent, but a bit... light. I would've given the Ports 3 stars, but you can't give 3 stars to a place with such a great view and that hands out the perfect included chocolates as an accompaniment, so I asked if I could order a second flight of table wines (yay, being on vacation... I miss that). Happily, even though they were about to stop pouring (it was, at this point, 5:57), they were totally ok with that, so I also tried a couple quite affordable non-Port wines (a white and a red), and two much pricier "reserve" bottles (also a white and a red). Interestingly, while the "reserve" red was quite possibly the best Duoro valley non-fortified wine I tried that trip, I wasn't overly impressed with the expensive white. I *was* very impressed with the other, super-affordable white wine - fruity, super drinkable, but *not* too light. Way cheaper by the glass prices on table wines, too. Verdict, go here when you're tired of drinking nothing but Port because you're in Porto, drink table wine instead.

Great casual tasting. Charcuterie board had great cheese pairings. Randomly stopped by while…read moreadmiring the river in bridge. No reservation required.

We came here for the rooftop and the port tonic!…read more The rooftop was popping off on a Saturday afternoon with a DJ playing some really fun music. The weather was dreary but the drinks were flowing and we had a great time! We indulged in some of their famous port tonic drinks and were pleasantly surprised at how fresh they tasted! We were able to snag a standing spot by the river and the view was incredible. I would definitely recommend stopping by for a drink with a view.

As I continue slowly catching up on finishing the *many* review drafts of places I visited in our…read morewhirlwind tour of Portugal in January, in this case one of a whole bunch of port-focused wineries within convenient walking distance of each other, that obviously being why I chose to stay at an airbnb on this side of the bridge, so I could visit as many of them as possible. Funny enough, other than the big names that export a whole bunch to the US, this was the one smaller Port producer with a tasting room here, that I'd had wines from - I'm part of a wine membership program that has had a couple of their ports (under their label but the same wine-makers listed prominently), but I was looking forward to trying several more of them that have *not* been available in the US. First off, they had a great space - admittedly I was there in the off-season, but there was plenty of space, and protected from the elements, but not stuffy (metaphorically or literally). Actually funny enough, they also had great live music the day I was there from 3-5, but I got there when they were on a break and was facing away from them, they were so polished I thought it was the radio until they finished their next set and people started clapping. (The original point being that there was also plenty of space for live music without me noticing they were there originally. But also, random potential for great live music!) It didn't feel *corporate*, it still felt properly craft and a lot more personal than the big name tasting rooms, but it did feel *polished* - they had a substantial tasting menu, all a la carte (the best way to do it). I originally spent 20 euro on a flight of 4 (the 4 that sounded the most interesting, including a 2003 Colheita they specifically recommended I try), though at the end of it, slightly tipsy, I ended up trying one more of the more affordable (the Lagrima; actually I also ended up trying another half-pour of their "Crusted" Port for free cause they wanted me to try it.) Anyway, Port-wise, I tried: the 2003 Colheita they specifically said I should try (great, obviously), the "crusted" (great), a great well-balanced dry white port, a great "special reserve" tawny, a big, fun, fruity, juicy rose (was only 11 euros for a bottle! - I bought a bottle), and the Lagrima (anyway, yeah, all their ports were great.) I also learned, which I *hadn't* previously known, that they also make gin! They sell it in bottles and by the glass - when I said I'd love to try it, but didn't need a whole *pour*, I was able to try a splash for free, and can confirm, as a gin lover, their classic dry gin is very good gin. Hits all the right notes, gin-wise. Just too bad I already had an entire full suitcase full of bottles of wine (mostly port, including a couple of theirs!). In addition, which I thought was very cool, but at that point had drunk quite enough wine for the day - they also make table (non-fortified) wines made from 3 varietals you don't really ever see, for very reasonable prices as well.

My wife purchased a sightseeing tour bus/boat/wine tasting package. When we walked in, they made…read moreit clear that we only got one glass of wine for free. We had to ask to sample the other Ports. We were given no information other than it's best to drink in this order. They brought out their base or low end ports. Nothing was said about the better wines. In fact, nothing was said about the bottles that were brought out. Oh, well... I'm sure there are better in Porto.