Douro
Steep schist terraces along the Douro river and its tributaries, and the home of Port. The finest vineyards are in the hotter Cima Corgo and Douro Superior. Since the 1990s the Douro has become just as known for dry reds and whites, many from old field-blend vineyards where dozens of varieties grow side by side.
Red grapes
White grapes
Wines from Douro
Bottles to try
Altano Douro Tinto
RedPapa Figos Tinto
RedVinha Grande Tinto
RedNiepoort Ruby Dum Port
FortifiedDuas Quintas Tinto
RedCedro do Noval Tinto
RedFonseca Bin 27 Reserve Port
FortifiedTaylor’s Late Bottled Vintage Port
FortifiedGraham’s Late Bottled Vintage Port
FortifiedCallabriga Tinto
RedNiepoort Redoma Branco
WhiteGraham’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port
FortifiedNiepoort Redoma Tinto
RedDow’s Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port
FortifiedSandeman 20 Year Old Tawny Port
FortifiedTaylor’s Vintage Port 2017
FortifiedProducers
Taylor’s
Est. 1692One of the oldest Port houses, part of The Fladgate Partnership. Its Quinta de Vargellas in the Douro Superior anchors famous Vintage Ports. Credited with launching the first modern Late Bottled Vintage.
Fonseca
A Fladgate Partnership house known for rich, opulent Vintage Ports and the popular Bin 27 Reserve.
Croft
Est. 1588Among the very oldest Port companies. Launched the first Rosé Port, Croft Pink.
Graham’s
Est. 1820A Symington family house famous for rich Vintage Ports and fine aged Tawnies. Quinta dos Malvedos is its home vineyard.
Dow’s
A Symington family house known for a drier, firmer style of Vintage Port, with fruit from Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Senhora da Ribeira.
Warre’s
Est. 1670The first British Port company, now owned by the Symington family. Known for elegant, fragrant Vintage Ports.
Sandeman
Est. 1790Famous for “The Don”, the caped silhouette that is one of wine’s oldest logos. Now part of Sogrape.
Quinta do Noval
Est. 1715A single estate above the Pinhão valley. Its Nacional Vintage Port comes from a small plot of ungrafted vines and is one of the rarest wines in the world.
Niepoort
Est. 1842A family Port house of Dutch origin. Under Dirk Niepoort it became a pioneer of elegant dry Douro wines (Redoma, Batuta, Charme) and later expanded into Bairrada and Dão.
Ramos Pinto
Est. 1880Known for its Quinta da Ervamoira in the Côa valley and for influential 1980s research into the Douro’s best grape varieties. Also famous for its early-20th-century poster art.
Kopke
Est. 1638Regarded as the oldest Port house. Especially known for Colheita Ports, including rare White Colheitas.
Casa Ferreirinha
Est. 1751The house of A.A. Ferreira, linked to Dona Antónia Ferreira, the 19th-century businesswoman who shaped the Douro. Makes Barca Velha, first released in 1952, Portugal’s most legendary dry red. Part of Sogrape.
Real Companhia Velha
Est. 1756Created by royal charter under the Marquis of Pombal, the same year the Douro was demarcated. Owns several quintas including Quinta das Carvalhas in Pinhão.
Quinta do Crasto
A family estate above the river known for old-vine field blends such as Vinha Maria Teresa and Vinha da Ponte, and for a famous infinity pool view of the valley.
Quinta do Vale Meão
The last great estate built by Dona Antónia Ferreira, and for decades the source of Barca Velha. Its own red is one of the Douro’s benchmarks.
Quinta do Vallado
A historic family estate near Régua, once owned by Dona Antónia Ferreira, now known for modern dry reds and whites and a wine hotel.
Symington Family Estates
The family company behind Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s and Cockburn’s Port. It also makes Douro wines, including the good-value Altano and, with the Prats family of Bordeaux, Chryseia.
Sogrape
Est. 1942Portugal’s largest family-owned wine company, founded to make Mateus Rosé. Today it owns Casa Ferreirinha, Sandeman, Quinta dos Carvalhais in the Dão and estates in Vinho Verde and the Alentejo.
Bacalhôa Vinhos
A large group based in Azeitão, named after the Renaissance Quinta da Bacalhôa. Known for Moscatel, Castelão and a Bordeaux-style red.
Herdade do Esporão
One of the Alentejo’s leading estates, with a large organic vineyard and an ampelographic collection of native grapes. Also owns Quinta do Ameal and Quinta dos Murças in the Douro.
João Portugal Ramos
A highly influential consultant winemaker turned producer. His Marquês de Borba wines are Alentejo classics.
Domingos Alves de Sousa
A family estate in the Baixo Corgo whose Quinta da Gaivosa helped lead the Douro’s move from Port to unfortified wine in the early 1990s. Domingos Alves de Sousa runs it with his son Tiago, who makes the wines.
Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo
A historic riverside estate owned by the Amorim family since 1999. Its winery building is dated 1764, and its name comes from a chapel built to protect the crews of the rabelo boats that carried wine down the Douro.
Van Zellers & Co
A Port and Douro wine company first founded in 1780 by a family that has worked in the Douro since the 17th century. Cristiano van Zeller revived the name in 2007 and now makes Douro reds, whites and Ports under it.
Wine & Soul
Est. 2001The project of winemaking couple Sandra Tavares da Silva and Jorge Serôdio Borges, started in 2001. Their Quinta da Manoella in the Pinhão valley has vines more than 100 years old, which go into its Vinhas Velhas field blend.
Prats & Symington
Est. 1999A joint venture between the Symington family and Bruno Prats, formerly of Bordeaux’s Château Cos d’Estournel, formed in 1999. Its Chryseia is one of the Douro’s benchmark reds; Prazo de Roriz and Post Scriptum are its other wines.
Poças
Est. 1918An independent family Port house founded in Vila Nova de Gaia in 1918 by Manoel Domingues Poças Júnior and still owned by the same family. It makes Port, especially aged tawnies and Colheitas, and Douro wines.
Rui Roboredo Madeira
A winemaker and producer working in the Douro Superior, where Castello d’Alba is his best-known brand, and in the Beira Interior, where he makes the Beyra wines. (Madeira is his surname; the wines aren’t from the island.)
Luís Seabra Vinhos
Est. 2013Founded in 2013 by Luís Seabra, formerly Niepoort’s winemaker, working small old-vine parcels in the Douro, Vinho Verde and Dão with minimal intervention. The Xisto (schist) and Granito (granite) ranges are named after their soils.
Duorum
Est. 2007Founded in 2007 by winemakers João Portugal Ramos and José Maria Soares Franco, who was for many years the winemaker of Barca Velha. Vineyards in the Cima Corgo and the Douro Superior, where it built up its Castelo Melhor estate.
CARM
Casa Agrícola Roboredo Madeira, a family company that has farmed around Almendra in the Douro Superior since the end of the 19th century. It makes organic wine and award-winning olive oil.