Lunch in the Douro at Quinta Vale do Meão

first wine of the day

After the ’09 EWBC ended in Lisbon, myself and about 20 other winebloggers were invited to visit the Douro Valley by the Douro Boys. The Douro Boys are 5 Portuguese wine makers who have come together to make exciting  still table wines from the Douro Valley and to show that there’s a lot more to Portugal than Port.

The first quinta we visited was the Quinta Vale do Meão. It was founded by the legendary Dona Antónia Adelaida Ferreira in 1877 when she purchased  260 hectares and began construction of a quinta and cultivation of the vines. Her great-great grandson, Francisco Javier de Olazabel now runs the estate along with his son, the estate winemaker, Francisco Olazabel. The produce both red and white table wines. We got an extensive tour of the winery and then off to the quinta for snacks and a very late lunch.

We were starving because the epic journey from Lisbon had taken us about 6 hours and only one coffee stop all day. We fell on the food like vultures. Must have spent about 45 mins eating and drinking their delicious white wine and then lunch was served along with their robust red wines in the main house. By the time we left, the sun was setting and we still had a train ride along the Douro to the next winery we were scheduled to visit that day and dinner! Below is a brief slideshow of the Quinta Vale do Meão winery and estate and our train ride along the river, featuring various winebloggers, of course!

2 Comments

  1. It was an excellent trip I have to agree – and I thought the outside food was THE food, not realising there was a full sit down meal inside too! I must say your photo skills are improving, who is that devilishly handsome devil in the burgundy top? 😉

    • I have yet more pics from the next day but can’t decide whether to put them up or not. Might do one more small post about Nierpoort. It was a fantastic trip wasn’t it? I really want to go back in the Spring and spend a couple of days wandering around. Ryanair or Easy jet now flies into Porto which is much closer than Lisbon!

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