This process takes several hours and temporarily dyes
the stompers’ legs an inky purple. Both traditional and
innovative, Jorge and Sandra are creating something new.
And they’re not the region’s only game-changers. The
morning after my visit, still dreaming about the juicy,
refined reds Jorge served me from his cellars, I’m on the
train to Quinta do Vesuvio. It is a journey east into the far
valley, close to the Spanish border, past where most tourists
venture. Speeding along a narrow precipice — hugged on
one side by sheer schist, on the other by the languid green
sparkle of the Douro River — I watch as the milky morning
light shifts and changes on the surrounding terraces with
every bend in the track. I lose my phone signal almost
immediately; a good sign, I think to myself, when you’re
seeking adventure.
Like Wine & Soul, Quinta do Vesuvio produces some of
the most respected still wines in the Douro. The difference
is that it’s owned by the Symington family, the area’s
largest and most powerful landholder, and one of the
biggest names in port. But my experience here couldn’t be
further from corporate.
At the quaint Vesuvio platform, lined with a white picket
fence, I am the only passenger to disembark. No wonder:
there seems to be nothing beyond the tiny, unmanned
train station but epic vineyard hills, a swirling river and
a single white quinta (farmhouse). And, waiting in the
sunlight, Marco — my smiling welcoming party.
Over the next few hours, I’m treated to a tour of the
vineyards set at heights terraced between 40 0ft and
1,700ft above sea level. I watch as baby Sezão grapevines
are planted — just one of the many varieties that
will contribute to the estate’s complex blends. I taste
Quinto do Vesuvio’s elegant red wines and devour
a vast cheeseboard. And, best of all, I poke around the
beautiful historic quinta, a perfect time capsule. There’s
antique wooden furniture, gilded paintings, aged books,
family photos. Bedrooms are neat and simple with
ethereal curtains; there’s a crackling fire in a big stone
fireplace. I can imagine someone swishing through the
rooms in period dress. And yet this scene hasn’t been
created for tourists.
Until last year, the property was solely for the
Symingtons’ private use. You couldn’t step inside unless
you were a family member, or the guest of one. “The idea
that we would invite tourists to the quinta would have
been unthinkable just a decade ago,” says Marco as he
drops me back at the station. “But everything is changing
in the Douro.”A new identity
Most locals say the big shift came in the mid-2010s. Porto,
the gateway to the Douro, had been named European
Capital of Culture in 2001 and was swiftly moving from
shabby to gentrified. Today, it’s a tourist wonderland, with
hip restaurants, slick wine bars and an epic new cultural
and museum district, WOW, set among old port houses in
Vila Nova de Gaia. The opening of a new road and tunnel
made the journey from Porto to the valley not only faster,
but less queasy, too. Instead of hairpin mountain roads,
there’s now a speedy, easy highway.