Portuguese Wine Odyssey Vacation

Portugal is a fabulous destination for food and wine lovers, offering a varied range of captivating landscapes (from cork forests, to wild coastline, to steep terraced vineyards); stunning historic villages like Belmonte, Évora, Sintra and Óbidos; and world class wineries. This Portuguese Wine Odyssey vacation brings you to the fine wine regions of the Alentejo and the Douro Valley, with additional wine tasting in the historic port wine lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia and at the quaint Loja do Vinho in Sintra. Some highlights of the tour include a romantic Rabelo cruise along the Douro River, 4X4 tours through the vineyards, tasting rare vintage Port wines in Oporto, and fine dining at some of Portugal’s best restaurants including the Bull& Bear (run by Portugal’s leading chef, Miguel Castro e Silva) and Tavares Rico (an ornate and gilded affair in Lisbon, dating back to the 1700´s).

You begin the tour in the atmospheric city of Oporto, visiting the famed lodges of Ramos Pinto and Grahams, before carrying on the Douro valley. Your base will be the Vintage House, majestically perched right on the river. Visit boutique estates like Quinta da Pacheca as well as more famous wineries like Quinta do Crasto, and head south towards the Alentejo. Enroute, you’ll stop off in the charming village of Trancoso for a surprisingly stylish wine tasting lunch and Belmonte, where you will sleep a night in the enchanting Pousada. The next leg of the trip includes a few days in Alentejo taking in VIP visits to top estates like Esporão, and emerging stars like Monte Seis Reis and Monte da Ravasqueira (both with stunning properties). You’ll stay outside the Unesco heritage town of Évora, in an elegantly renovated convent, now a luxury spa hotel. On your way to Lisbon, you’ll visit the fairy tale village of Óbidos and a Disney-esque castle in Sintra. Your tour concludes in Lisbon with a farewell wine tasting gourmet dinner at the city’s greatest restaurant, Tavares Rico.

On this wine tasting tour, you’ll taste a variety of native Portuguese grape varietals such as (red)- Aragonês (Spain´s Tempranillo grape, also called Tinta Roriz in the north), Tinto Cão (high quality red), Bastardo (humorously named grape cultivated in the Douro and other regions), Castelão Frances (also called "Tricadeira Preta" and "Periquita" in the Ribatejo), Touriga Francesa (one of the most widely grown port grapes), Touriga Nacional (one of the nation’s "Noble" grapes); and (white) Antao Vaz (zippy white used widely in the Alentejo), Alvarinho (said to be a possible cousin to Spain´s "Albariño), Esgana Cão (another humorous name, this means "Dog Strangler"!), Fernão Pires (aromatic grape that resembles Muscat), Roupeiro (high quality grape, also known as Codéga"), and Vioshinho (a lesser known white grape of the Douro valley. Dining is always an important focus on our tours and you’ll enjoy a range of carefully selected restaurants, from cozy and authentic little winemaker’s haunts to refined and high end establishments. This is the ultimate Portuguese wine odyssey! Contact us for more info if you want to visit Portugal’s wine country on a luxurious private tour.