Douro Boys

The name may sound like a neighbourhood gang but these young innovative winemakers are Portugal’s hottest property. Chris Moss finds out more as he journeys along the Douro Valley, a newly transformed Mecca for wine lovers

I begin my wine-tasting holiday by driving as fast as possible away from a city that exports hundreds of thousands of barrels of the stuff every year, where booze is part of the heritage, and where even toddlers get to taste the finest vintages. Madness I know.

Porto is one of Europe’s great trading cities – its dockside alive with ships coming in filled with produce from Brazil, Mozambique and the former colonies, while local olives, fish and vegetables flow out.

Its most famous import is football manager Bobby Robson, who won the cup once and the league twice with FC Porto. But more famous is its chief export, port, the fortified wine enjoyed with English Stilton in gentlemen’s clubs or with bitter lemon in bingo halls.

The city is also where the Douro (pronounced DOH-roo) River Valley starts, a beautiful rugged swathe of countryside with incredible terraced vineyards and winding roads. And it’s where I’ve come, not for the vintage port but for a different, newer side of the Portuguese wine story that’s making the area the most talked-about wine trail in Europe.

In the last few years, a small, select group of 30- and 40-something winemakers – known collectively as the Douro Boys (although one is a woman) have transformed the landscape of the Douro and invigorated its economy and self-image. The gang, who are all friends as well as rivals – they taste each others’ produce and compete for shelf-space in Europe’s wine stores – have made some awesome wines, both white and red, and I’m here to taste them.

The first Douro Boy I meet is João Ferreira Álvares Ribeiro, owner of the Quinta do Vallado. Like many Douro winemakers, he is a descendant of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, a legendary land- and vineyard-owner who was something of a Cleopatra – minus the looks – in the region during the latter half of the 19th century.

“We’re all connected, like one big family,” he says as we shoot along the recently completed new highway threading through the lower Douro. “Wherever you go in the Douro you’ll see the name and face of Dona Antónia. She owned many quintas (wine estates) and left them to her family. We’re proud of her because even though the port industry was controlled by the British she became a formidable power in the valley – and she was Portuguese, and a woman.”

A former banker, João gave up earning lots of money to help the family business: “Our quinta was a ruin so I decided to rebuild it while I still worked at the bank,” he explains over a supper of grilled turbot and delicious white wine.

“It’s here to encourage tourism but it’s also the best way of marketing what we do. This is the place where wine writers, buyers and wine buffs, as well as tourists, can stay when they come – and they won’t forget the quinta.”

He’s right. The main house is a beautiful, elegant boutique hotel overlooking a narrow, steep valley off the main Douro valley. Painted in a distressed oxblood shade, it’s surrounded by poplars, orange trees and organic vegetable patches.

If the mansion evokes old-world Portugal, the winery, a short stroll away, is hi-tech, full of shiny stainless steel and complex machinery. This combination of old and new, and of wine and tourism, is what the Douro is now all about.

“There’s never been a tradition of wine tourism in the valley,” says João. “We want to keep it small and intimate, and we want it to attract people who come for the wines as well as the landscape.”

All the Douro Boys are immensely proud of their region – and they are very well connected, a big plus in the wine trade. Six years after Robson moved on from FC Porto, his onetime interpreter, Jose Mourinho, became manager. Winning a further two league titles as well as the Champions League and UEFA Cup with the team, Mourinho, though from Setúbal near Lisbon, is a local hero.

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