Douro Valley
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36 imagesPorto city, Portugal, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine. THIS IS ONLY A SELECTION OF SAMPLES. Use the image SEARCH function to find more relevant photos. Porto, sometimes called Oporto, is the main city in the Douro valley. It lies at the outlet of the Douro river to the Atlantic. Douro is in practice a twin city with the "port lodge city" Vila Nova de Gaia. It is just a short walk over the Dom Luis I bridge that separates the two. Porto is the evident starting point for any exploration of the wine regions and the port wine houses along the Douro river, but it is also a city with many tourist attractions and points of interest itself. Porto is Portugal's second largest city with over 220,000 inhabitants. It lies in the northern part of the country, on the coast, and is obviously an important harbour (port). It is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Together with Vila Nova de Gaia it is the centre of the port wine trade. Not to be missed are for example: the Porto Cathedral, the Avenida dos Aliados, Palacio da Bolsa, the Ponte Dom Luis I bridge, the City Hall, the churches with the characteristic azulejos blue tiles (e.g. Igreja de Santo Ildefonso, Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina, Igreja dos Congregados etc), the Torre dos Clerigos and Sao Francisco churches etc. In the harbour quarters, Cais da Ribeira, one can find many restaurants and bars, and it is a nice place for an afternoon or evening stroll and for a glass of wine. All images © copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine. Images may not be used without our permission.
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25 imagesVila Nova de Gaia city, Douro, Portugal, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine. THIS IS ONLY A SELECTION OF SAMPLES. Use the image SEARCH function to find more relevant photos. If Porto is the administrative capital of the Doruo river and port wine district, it is Vila Nova de Gaia that is the vinous centre. It is here that you find all the famous "port lodges", big warehouses, or wineries with a more romantic name. You see one well-known name after the other on the lodges: Sandeman, Calem, Croft, Cockburn's, Ramos Pinto, Burmester, Ferreira, Fonseca, Calem etc etc. Vila Nova de Gaia is located just across the river, a short walk across the Ponte Dom Luis I bridge. You can walk up the hill and get an excellent view of both Gaia and Oporto (as it is sometimes called). Its location at the mouth of the Douro River out into the Atlantic made it a good location for a shipping (and sipping?) and warehouse centre for port wine. There was a time (until quite recently) that all the port wine had to be stored and shipped, by law, from the town of Vila Nova de Gaia. When that changed Gaia lost some of its importance as the centre for Port wine, since it became possible for producers to work directly from wineries near the vineyards further up the river. There is a pleasant river-side walk along the keys. You will pas in front of many of the famous port lodges on the town side, and on the river side you can see many old Barco Rabelo, the typical sail boats used for transporting port on the river. The barcos rabelos are no longer in use of course. Today transporting wine is more likely to be done by lorry. You will also find plenty of restaurants and bars. All images © copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine. Images may not be used without our permission.
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17 imagesQuinta do Infantado, Douro, Portugal, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine. THIS IS ONLY A SELECTION OF SAMPLES. Use the image SEARCH function to find more relevant photos. Quinta do Infantado is a small independent Douro "quinta" (winery) making some very nice ports. It is owned by the Roseira family since several generations back. The current generation is Joao Roseira and his sister Catherine Roseira. The winery is in a small village, not easy to find. And when you arrive at the winery you are certainly a far distance away from some of today's super-modern wineries that have been built along the Douro River. This is certainly a traditional family winery. It is on the edge of the village, with a view over the vineyards. The vineyards are steep and terraced. Cannot be easy to work there and even less so in summer under a scorching sun. The wines are generally of a style much dryer than your average port. Still sweet of course but not so overwhelmingly so. Sometimes almost light, often very elegant. They e.g. make Ruby, Tawny, LBV (late bottled vintage) of different ages, and vintage. The winery is an old farm building. Inside you can find the traditional open lagares for treading the grapes. They have some concrete fermentation tanks, and of course many oak barrels, port pipes, to age the wines. All images © copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine. Images may not be used without our permission.
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17 imagesQuinta do Noval, Pinhao, Douro, Portugal, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine. THIS IS ONLY A SELECTION OF SAMPLES. Use the image SEARCH function to find more relevant photos. Quinta do Noval is a port winery far up the Douro Valley, beyond Pinhao along an affluent to the Douro river towards Vale de Mendiz. Today it is owned by the French insurance company AXA, through its subsidiary AXA Millesimes. The vineyards lie around the winery building, perched on a hilltop. Some of the vineyards are incredibly steep and one wonders how anyone could get the idea to plant vines there. The most famous wine they produce is the Quinta do Noval Nacional made from a 2.5 hectare vineyard of ungrafted vines, located just below the winery. They have another vintage port wine that is called Silval, somewhat lighter in style, as well as LBV (late bottled vintage), colheita, tawny, and a ruby Raven port. Quinta do Noval also makes some "table" wine (i.e. not fortified, not port wine). They go under the label Cedro do Noval as well as Quinta do Noval Douro DOC. They use several of grape varieties, as is the norm in the Douro: touriga nacional, touriga franca, tinta cao, tinta barocca, tinta roriz (tempranillo) etc. The vineyards cover some 145 ha in total. The actual winery is a mix of tradition and modern technology. You can see big, old oak casks storing aging ports, but you can also se the latest sorting tables at harvest time. All images © copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine. Images may not be used without our permission.
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25 imagesQuinta do Seixo, Pinhao, Douro, Portugal, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine. THIS IS ONLY A SELECTION OF SAMPLES. Use the image SEARCH function to find more relevant photos. Quinta do Seixo is a port wine winery close to Pinhao with a fabulous location on a hilltop overlooking the Douro River. It belongs to the Sogrape Group that also owns several other famous brands, such as Sandeman and Ferreira. Quinta do Seixo was bought by Ferreira in 1979 and came to Sogrape with the purchase of Ferreira in 1987. In fact, Sogrape owns several quintas (wineries with vineyards) in the Douro: In Cima-Corgo it owns Quinta do Seixo, Quinta da Boavista, Quinta do Porto, Quinta do Caêdo and Quinta do Vau; in Douro Superior, Quinta da Leda. The Quinta do Seixo has been thoroughly renovated in Sogrape hands. the winery is newly built and very impressive with all modern technology you need. They have e.g. the "mechanical feet" that many wineries (but not all) now use for treading the grapes in the lagares. Also the vineyards have been "renovated". They have replanted much of the vineyards focusing on a single variety in each plot and planting with different planting densities to maximise sun exposure. Quinta do Seixo has 49 hectares of vineyards. From the winery at the Quinta you have a stunning view over the river. (But where do you not have stunning views in the Douro? If you have never been there it is worth a visit. It is one of the most spectacular wine regions we have ever visited.) You can see downstream in the direction of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, the traditional centres for the port wine trade (that is far away of course), and you can see upstream towards Pinhao. This main town of the upper Douro is visible on a bend in the river a few kilometres away. http://www.sograpevinhos.eu/ All images © copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine. Images may not be used without our permission.
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35 imagesDouro River Valley, Portugal, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine --- This is only a selection of samples. Use Image SEARCH to find more photos --- The Douro River is one of the five main rivers on the Iberian peninsula. In Spain it is called Duero. In Portugal it becomes the Douro. It flows out into the Atlantic by the twin cities Porto (Oporto) and Vila Nova de Gaia. Its source is at more than 2000 meter altitude in Spain and its length is more than 800 km. Its main claim to fame (at least for us) is as the home to port wines. But in recent decades it has also become an important wine region for "table" wines, DOC Douro wines. In Spain there are severa other more or less well known appellations along the river: Ribera del Duero, Arribes (del Duero) etc. It is without a doubt one of the most visually spectacular wine regions that we have ever seen. Starting in Porto you can travel up the valley, past Regua (Peso da Regua, even past Pinhao if you wish, and all along you will see spectacular scenery. the higher up the river you go the more amazing it is. In many places you cannot help thinking "how can anyone even get the idea to grow vines here?" The hills are covered with vineyards. And everywhere there are terraces. Hundreds, thousands, millions? Many of the terraces are only one or two rows of vines broad. In the old days all of this was no doubt constructed by hand. Today they have at least bulldozers to make new terraces. On virtually every hilltop there is a winery. When you get up to the winery, following a winding road, you have spectacular views all around. And surprisingly, many of the wineries have brand new installations. There has been a lot of investment recently in new buildings, new wineries, new vinification equipment. All images © copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine. Images may not be used without our permission.