The Douro Valley is one of Portugal’s worst kept secrets. This is where some of the best wines in the world are produced, a true oasis of the wine production due to a number of elements. The Douro itself has a wide variety of open sky secrets waiting to be discovered. Do you know them?
1. The Douro was the world’s first officially demarcated wine region dating back to 1756 by Marquis of Pombal. Its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site came in 2001.
2. The dry-stone walled-terraces built by hand are a strong and dramatic feature of the Douro landscape and a key element for the wine production in this region. The only way to plant vineyards in these steep mountainsides is building these schist walls.
3. The wines from the Douro are typically sweets due to the vines large exposure to sunlight which is only possible because of the mountainsides orientation.
4. The “Baixo Corgo” is the smallest area but has the largest viticulture site. The other two areas are Alto Corgo and Douro Superior, located further inland.
5. Although there are about 33 thousand producers in the Douro, the most part of them owns only a hectare of land and their production is sold to cooperatives and other big producers.
These and many other aspects are waiting to be discovered inside the greatest wines bottles. Find out some of the best Douro wines here.
