Beautiful blue sky greeted us on Thursday morning for our first full day in the Douro Valley.
Our first stop was Terrus – a tiny family owned estate about half an hour from Regua in the village of Barro. It has a wonderful location overlooking the river. An amazing sense of tranquility prevails.
Maria Foy warmly welcomed us with her usual charm and gave us a great insight into the two hectares of vineyards, fruit trees, table grapes and other aspects of the farm.
They had harvested everything on Monday so we were lucky to see freshly stomped grapes in the lagares ready to head into the vats.
The tasting room is in the cellar and we tasted her 2019, 2012 and 2010 – all three were great contrasts, particularly the 2019 which was a deliberately more fruit forward style.
We were then lucky to taste their family 1995 tawny port which was utterly delicious.
From Terrus, it was back down the slopes and along the river to Quinta do Tedo. Tedo was set up by Vincent Bouchard of the Burgundy negociant and his wife Kay who hails from California. With 14 hectares, they have created an excellent estate making both table wines and ports. Thiago hosted our visit and he was excellent, bringing the estate to life, bantering with the winemakers and giving a great insight into Port production. We tasted through their range of table reds from entry level to Grande Reserva before heading into a private lunch at their bistro.
The bistro has a wonderful view onto the confluence of the river Tedo and Douro, and a relaxed mood set in. A selection of local starters, cheeses, meats and duck croquettes were followed by a wild boar casserole on a cauliflower puree. A pannacotta with Port reduction followed and we quaffed down some excellent white, the Reserva red and a 2003 Vintage Port. The 2003 was totally unexpected and an opportunity to taste a classic vintage.
A brilliant first full day!
