Maribel -

Is it possible to just show up for a tasting, or is it necessary to book all of these places? Also, do they offer just tastings, or one must also take a tour? It's just not clear from many of their websites how it works. And none seem to have menus online, so not sure what the lunch offerings might be.

We're a bit confused...

Melnq8,
Wine touring is confusing in the Douro.
Answers (I hope!) to your questions-

1). In our experience one needs to book ahead (I did mine 9 months in advance for the 1st week of Nov just to make sure). Your hotel may have options for those who don't book ahead.

2). Most all wineries will offer the tasting at the end of the tour. Douro winery tours tend to be shorter than those we experience in the Rioja.

It's usually a short walk around the vineyards, a visit to the cellars with explanations on how their wines or ports are made, a visit to the ancient stone grape trodding vats, lagares, and ending with a tasting. The basic Sandeman visit only lasts for 40 min. At Bomfim and Seixo (Sandeman) one can choose among different types of tastings at different price levels from basic to VIP.

3) The only ones that I know that just offer tastings are:
a. Quinta do Pêgo (10 min. southwest of Pinhão), because the production facilities are elsewhere. But at Pêgo (where we often stay) there is a daily visit for outsiders only at 5:00 pm in the shop. It costs €7.50 for the tasting of 2 DOP wines and 2 ports. You should be able to just call ahead or drop in.

b. Quinta do Vallado (5 min. northeast of Régua) has a newly expanded shop that also offers tastings and is open daily. Without a car, you would take the local train west from Pinhão to Régua and taxi from the Régua rail station to/from Vallado

c. Quinta das Carvalhas, across the bridge, has a beautiful wine shop that we visited but only to buy wine and to book their special (and pricey) "VIP tour with the winery's agronomist" for a friend.
I believe you can just have a tasting there sans tour. I read some reviews indicating that the tasting of 4 wines and 1 port costs €19. Your hotel should be able to tell you. They're open on Sundays.

4) Not all wineries have restaurants open to non-guests. These do:
a. Quinta de la Rosa, walkable. It's Cozinha da Clara. We ate lunch there recently. Menus online. Vegetarian dishes available.
https://www.quintadelarosa.com/content/cozinha-da-clara

b. Quinta do Tedo (15 min. southwest from Pinhão). It's their tapas style Terrace Bistro with great views of the Tedo river. Menus online.
https://www.quintadotedo.com/bistro-terrace.

c. Quinta Nova Nossa Senhora do Carmo (the one where you book the tour & lunch, take the train to the Ferrão stop and they pick you up). It's the Conceitus Restaurant. They serve a chef's market driven, 3-course tasting menu "3 Moments" (2 options in each course) with optional wine pairing. Gluten free & vegetarian options. The menu costs €48 and the optional wine pairing €24.

d. Quinta da Pacheca in Cambres, just 5-min. from Régua. It's The Wine House Restaurant. A la carte. No online menu. We had a delightful lunch here in their gorgeous dining room.

e. Quinta do Portal (20 min. due north of Pinhão) has a restaurant where creative young chef Chef Milton Ferreira uses locally-grown ingredients paired with in-house wines. Several different menus to choose from. Cost: €40/p
https://www.winetourismportugal.com/...al-restaurant/.

f. Quinta Bomfim doesn't have a restaurant but you can book a picnic basket that includes a bottle of wine to hike up to enjoy at their viewpoint, the Echo House. Details:
The picnic must be booked 48 hours in advance and is for a minimum of two people. It is delivered to you in a traditional picnic basket and can be enjoyed either on the terrace of the main visitor centre, overlooking the river Douro, or on the Echo House terrace, in the middle of the vineyards.
Cost: €25/p. Open daily
https://www.symington.com/visit/quinta-do-bomfim/3.

I'm just throwing this question out-
Had you considered taking the train to Régua, the first Douro stop and largest town and picking up a rental car at the Europcar office (the only rental car office in the valley, open Mon-Sat only), so as to have a car only in the valley for your touring and returning the car there, then take the train back to Porto from Régua?

Hope this helps!

I forgot to mention that Quinta do Infantado, just a 10-12 min. drive northwest from Pinhão gives its 60-min. Dona Margarida visit Monday-Friday at 4 pm and you can reserve online.
https://quintadoinfantado.com/turismo/

Hi Maribel -

Fantastic suggestions as usual - we are looking into some of the wineries suggested, so far I've run across one on your list that's fully booked, but have yet to contact the others, but I will when I get a minute. We've booked dinner for the first night at Quinta de la Rosa and are in the process of arranging a tasting there as well.

I think we've decided to base in Evora (or Estremoz or Monsaraz?) for three nights instead of Guimarães or Braga, and placing it in between Porto and Sintra. I've been in contact with Maureen Ferguson and we're looking into tour options with her.

You've piqued our interest in taking a train to Régua and possibly collecting a rental car, but haven't looked into details yet - we certainly will though.

Please know how much your help is appreciated - you've been very generous with your time and assistance and we Portugal newbies are very thankful indeed!

Ditto from another Portugal newbie!

Melanq8. We purchased tickets on cp.pt. last night and it was relatively easy (after a little Maribel help).

Plan it right and you will find promotional fares available maybe even now (we found fares for April) and the cost is 1/2 the full fare. Beware of ticket brokers as they don’t seem to offer those fares (as far as I could see).

Please also consider a car. You can only imagine where a car can take you in Portugal. Do your homework when booking, get an IDP from AAA and you will be all set. Oh, and a credit card with good rental car benefits.

Remember. You can always go back.

Plan it right and you will find promotional fares available maybe even now (we found fares for April) and the cost is 1/2 the full fare. Beware of ticket brokers as they don’t seem to offer those fares (as far as I could see).

Sher - are you referring to airline tickets? We purchased airline tickets last week.

Sorry. Referring to train ticket. I was not clear.

Just another big Thank you! to Maribel for all the winery suggestions. I guess I should get to work and think about what wineries to visit on our day in Pinhao in Sept, right?

Melnq8,
I can't wait to hear about your trip when you return, sounds wonderful (and a lot like ours, but we'll have a car outside of Lisbon and Porto), and I'm getting very excited. Happy planning!

Melnq8 I can only presume that you deferred your trip. You are travelling in much the same way as we like to travel - slow. We will also have 3 - 3.5 weeks in Portugal when travel is available again.
Looking forward to your trip report whenever you are able to make the trip.

If this would be your only trip to Portugal I'd go for 3 weeks of course(perhaps adding a few places in Spain close to the Portuguese border), but why do you think you'll never go back to Portugal?

Rasputin1 -

Yes, unsurprisingly, our flights were cancelled by the airline so we scrapped the trip. We're hoping to take it within the next year, and possibly combine it with several weeks in Switzerland or Italy.

BDKR - I was in Spain in March, but that trip was short circuited due to Covid-19, so I'm hoping to make a return to Spain in the next year or two. I don't know that Portugal will be a one and only, but on the off chance it will, I'd like to fit in as much as possible. We'd booked a three week trip.

Make it 3 weeks and you can still have the chance to spend some of that time in Spain(Galicia, Extremadura), criss-crossing the border. If you like walking and beautiful landscapes you can easily spend a whole week on Madeira and that leaves only 2 weeks for mainland Portugal and than we didn't even mention the Azores Islands.

BDKR -

We'd planned three weeks in Portugal (and that was before you planted the seed of Madeira, which has piqued my interest!).

The Spain trip re-do is with a friend, so we're talking about two separate trips. When initially planning this trip, I'd hoped to combine the two - Portugal with my spouse and then Spain with my friend, but the logistics of three separate open jaw itineraries, from two departure cities, proved to be a total PITA, so I gave up. I might have to give it another go though, especially now that I have time to fiddle with it.

This is what I want to do! Spend 5-6 nights in Lisbon than 2 or 3? nights in Cascais before I head to the alentejo region - how many nights would you suggest having been there? and then the algarve for 3-4 nights? I have a total of 5 weeks. I am also including Porto ( about 4 nights)and Duoro Valley ( 4 nights) and possibly Madeira! I am trying to figure out driving distances, how much time in each area etc etc etc! Any recommendations on outdoor markets, not to miss sites ( I am continuously researching as I am not going until August hopefully!) restaurants etc. We do not want to feel like we are constantly running or changing hotels but LOL it does seem like we will be doing that!

evacenteno1311 better to post your own thread. This one is from 2020.

evacenteno1311 - this trip was cancelled due to COVID, as was its replacement in December 2021.

Ironically, just this morning we booked again, hoping that the third time is a charm. We're booked for 22 nights in late March/April.

I agree you should start your own thread, as you'll get more responses that way.

Congratulations on booking again! I too hope it will all be fine in August to go. I would love to hear more about your trip and what you planned for that amount of time. I will start my own thread once again.

Mel, you booked again? Funny, we are booked (again, also for the 3rd time, 22 nights) for late March/April but we're considering canceling. I can't imagine testing positive before flying back home and having to quarantine in a foreign country. But the main thing is, I won't have an extra 2 weeks vacation to use for it...

I hope you get to go, safe travels!

xzy99 -

Yes, we've decided to give it another go. We've booked refundable flights and I'm just beginning to rebook our accommodation which will be also be refundable. Testing positive before flying home is certainly an issue - we worried that would be the case when we spent a month in Switzerland in October, but all went well. It's a chance we're willing to take - we're retired so time off isn't the issue (although getting sick is always a concern).

So, unless things change dramatically for the worse between now and March...