Alright, I am finally actually completing a task I should have had completed several months ago: this is the last review I wrote a draft of, when I was in Porto, in January, now 6 months ago. Though given they've apparently been making port since 1715, they *probably* didn't go totally downhill in the past 6 months... anyway, I gave myself a bunch of work writing reviews that trip, given among other things, I intentionally found an airbnb right where all the tasting rooms were, and tried to visit as many of them as I could (I did get to most of them!) This was certainly only one of many wonderful Port wineries I went to, in terms of their Port being very good, which it was - perhaps not the *best* I'd had that trip (I had a lot of very good port), but quite good, and at least at the time, quite *affordable* by the glass compared to some (but not all) of the other tasting rooms I went to, on both the very cheap and the relatively more expensive ends (funny enough, I thought the tastiest one of the several I tried was their cheapest tawny). I did like that they let you pick which bottles you wanted to try, instead of being locked into a flight. And I especially liked that they provided small pairings, which for the port, was chocolate, obviously. Truly wonderful chocolates, wonderful pairing. I was just sad, when I decided I had to try at least *one* of their table wines (their very affordable, *very* good, Maria Mansa white blend), that it didn't come with any more chocolates (it came with crackers, instead, lol. Those chocolates would've gone great with *everything*.)
In addition to the great wine and great service, I also learned when I got there, accidentally at the absolutely perfect time, if you get a seat by the window, they also have an entirely non-pretentious, but *gorgeous* second-floor view of the river, especially right as the sun is going down. I was just there because, *also* notably, they closed an hour after all their competitors, so I went wine tasting all the places that closed at 5, then came here, so that was quite smart of them. But it also meant I got to be there at the absolute *perfect* time to pair the wines with not only great chocolates, but also a wonderful view.
I miss Porto so much... read more