Take a daily dose
of the city’s
namesake drink
Porto’s most famous export, port wine, runs
through the city like lifeblood. The grapes
used to make it are grown upriver in the
Douro Valley, but the product is aged in the
many port wine lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia.
Enormous signs bearing their names jostle
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wine version of Broadway. Opening the door
to Graham’s, here since 1890, I’m enveloped
by the sweet, heady scent of booze. Guide
Maite Weill Steiger leads me to the cellars,
where the air is mustier, pervasively and
intentionally damp. ‘That is the smell of
time,’ she says, as we pass a pyramid of
ancient oak barrels. Behind is a hidden area
where dusty bottles of vintage port, some
dating back to the 19th century, age in dark
rooms with doors like prison cells. ‘These
wines are like people,’ says Maite. ‘At the
beginning, they’re like kids and have a lot of
energy. Then they go through a phase, like
puberty, where no-one knows what’s going
on, but then – in theory – age 20, they reach
a certain level of maturity, and just keep
getting better and better.’ The very best
can fetch as much as £5,000 a bottle.
She gives me different kinds to try,
from a classic ruby port I recognise from
Christmas cheeseboards to a lighter,
rose-tinted 10-year-old tawny, which
tends to appeal to younger port drinkers.
At Graham’s vine-draped terrace bar,
Vinum, everyone is drinking port-tonics.
Though a longstanding favourite with
locals, such is the popularity of the P&T that
its fame has recently spread to our shores.
Made with white port, tonic and ice, here it’s
served with a mint sprig, a slice of lemon
and an unparalleled view of the Douro.
Porto’s best bars are always innovating
with the city’s premier ingredient. At his
new opening Mini Bar, celebrity chef
José Avillez made tawny port the base
for a signature cocktail: El Toro y la Luna
(‘the bull and themoon’), mixed with an
Italian herbal liqueur and topped with
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Its rich colour is a perfect complement to
the bar’s ruby walls, velvet banquette seats
and glowing neon signs. The food menu is
knowingly playful, offering avocado slivers
cooked in tempura batter, mouthfuls of pâté
masquerading as chocolates, and beef
tartare served in tiny cones.
grahams-port.com; minibar.pt
Port-tonics at Vinum,
the terrace bar
belonging to Graham’s
port lodge. Above,
from left: Port barrels
ageing in Graham’s
cellars; Porto’s drinking
traditions transformed
at Mini Bar