Stomping Grapes within the Douro Valley: A Enjoyable Wine Harvest Tour in Portugal
Do you do not forget that one episode of “I Love Lucy” the place Lucy is stomping grapes in an enormous wood vat (after which will get right into a struggle with an Italian woman)? I nonetheless keep in mind the primary time I noticed that episode as a child (thanks, Nick and Nite and my grandma who allow us to watch cable TV at her home!). One thing about it made sufficient of an impression for me to place “stomp grapes to make wine” on my journey bucket record, not understanding it was an exercise the typical individual might truly do.
However guess what? There are completely nonetheless locations on this planet the place they stomp grapes with their naked toes – and sure, even locations the place vacationers can pitch in to assist!
Considered one of these locations is the Douro Valley, a well-known wine-producing area in northern Portugal the place many winemakers nonetheless do issues the guide manner – proper right down to how they press their grapes.
I booked a tour to assist out with the wine harvest course of at a Douro Valley vineyard final fall, and I need to let you know all about it!
What’s the Douro Valley?
First issues first: what and the place is the Douro Valley? The Douro Valley is situated in northern Portugal, the place the Douro River has carved out a deep valley with steep rolling hills. On these steep hills, terraced vineyards make up one of many oldest demarcated wine areas in the whole world.
The Douro Valley is the place the world’s port wine comes from. It’s just like the Champagne area in France; beneath Protected Designation of Origin legal guidelines within the European Union, solely fortified wine made with grapes from the Douro wine area can formally be known as Port or Porto.
They have been making wine right here for a protracted, very long time – roughly 2,000 years, to be precise. And plenty of winemakers nonetheless do issues the standard manner, from hand-picking all of the grapes to hand-stomping (er… foot-stomping?) them. A few of that is out of necessity (for instance, the steep winery terraces make it troublesome to make use of equipment to select the small grapes), whereas a few of it’s as a result of it is simply thought to be one of the simplest ways to do issues.
Stomping grapes within the Douro Valley
Many winemakers within the Douro Valley nonetheless press grapes for crimson wine the “Previous World” manner: with their naked toes!
This occurs throughout the harvest season (normally mid-September by means of mid-October, although the precise dates change yr to yr). The freshly-plucked bunches of grapes are put into a big cement/stone trough (referred to as a lagar), after which stompers/treaders go in, barefoot, to crush the grapes.
There’s science behind this: manually stomping the grapes is one of the simplest ways to verify the grape juice is expelled with out additionally crushing the grape seeds and stems (which launch extra bitter flavors). Human toes additionally add some warmth into the method, kickstarting fermentation whereas permitting for optimum contact between the skins and juice, which some say results in higher crimson wines.
It is definitely extra of a time dedication, as treaders stroll in a line backwards and forwards by means of the lagar for hours on finish earlier than the method is full – which is why not each Douro Valley vineyard makes use of this technique.
Of the wineries that also make the most of grape stomping of their winemaking course of, a number of provide vacationers the possibility to get entangled behind the scenes. So in fact I needed to attempt it!
A Douro Valley harvest tour: My expertise
When Elliot and I have been planning our annual birthday-anniversary journey final yr, I steered we go to Portugal. I wished to go to the Azores islands, and Elliot requested we additionally add a while in Porto so he might drink port wine from the supply. Throughout my planning analysis, I noticed our journey would coincide with the harvest season within the Douro Valley, so we determined so as to add on two nights there, too.
There are a number of wineries that supply hands-on harvest season excursions that embody grape stomping, however they are not all simple to seek out in my expertise.
A pair choices I discovered embody:
You normally cannot begin reserving these excursions till mid-summer, when the wineries can have a greater concept of when the harvest will happen. Most wineries harvest all their grapes for the yr inside a interval of 2-3 weeks, someday between September and October. So that you clearly cannot e book a tour exterior of these weeks!
We ended up reserving this tour with Living Tours, which included a half-day of harvest actions. Additionally they supplied a wider availability calendar, as I believe they work with a couple of winery for these excursions.
Harvesting grapes
Since we rented a automotive in Porto for our time within the Douro Valley, we met the tour on the designated vineyard, which for us was Quinta da Avessada. (The corporate additionally provides transfers from Pinhão.) We met there at 10:30 a.m., and have been ultimately launched to our information for the morning and given our first refreshing glass of Douro wine.
Then all of us donned straw hats and headed into the winery for about 45 minutes of grape-cutting.
We got some shears, a small bucket, and some suggestions, after which have been let free into the vines. We have been truly within the Douro throughout some actually unhealthy wildfires, so I used to be additional glad that the winery we went to wasn’t on a steep hill!
We lower grapes for lower than an hour, filling a number of large buckets as a gaggle (and consuming loads alongside the way in which, too). It was scorching and sweaty work, although, and I believe all of us completed with a better appreciation for the individuals who do that for hours a day throughout the harvest.
We then went again to the vineyard for one more glass of wine and a brief break. After which the true spotlight started!
Stomping grapes
We have been taken into a big barn subsequent the place a lagar was already crammed with partially crushed crimson grapes. Another excursions point out offering you with shorts to put on to tread the grapes, however everybody in my group simply hiked up their shorts or pants and climbed into the lagar.
Our information defined the standard manner of treading grapes – hooking elbows in a line and strolling slowly by means of the grapes to the beat of music being performed. We tried it – for all of 30 seconds earlier than issues devolved into folks high-stepping and twirling round within the grape goo to the sound of reside accordion music being performed for us.
Grape stomping in apply is… squishy. And messy! But it surely was additionally fairly enjoyable.
We have been solely within the lagar for perhaps 10 minutes earlier than our information was ushering us out to dry off our legs. I might have fortunately spent longer doing this, however I can positively examine “stomping grapes to make wine” off my bucket record.
(And to anybody feeling repulsed on the concept of naked toes within the grapes that make your wine… do not stress. This all occurs earlier than the fermentation course of, and that course of kills off something gross that could be floating round in there with all of the grape skins, leaves, stems, seeds, bugs, and so forth.)
After stomping, we realized a bit in regards to the historical past of the vineyard we have been at (over yet one more glass of wine, in fact!), after which moved again into the primary constructing for a standard lunch.
The vineyard we visited hosts a lot of tour teams, so the lunch felt like every other vineyard lunch I might been to. However the total harvest tour was actually enjoyable!
The decision
These harvest excursions can differ relying on which one you e book and which vineyard you go to. However, normally, they’re a novel approach to expertise winemaking within the Douro Valley, and I am actually glad we did it!
It’s extremely simple so as to add a harvest tour to a bigger journey to the Douro Valley or Portugal, too, so I might say go for it in case you’re visiting on the proper time of yr.
The place to remain within the Douro Valley
Whilst you CAN take a day journey to the Douro Valley (even for a tour like this), I do advocate staying for an evening or two if doable! For harvest season, lots of the excursions occur within the neighborhood of Peso da Régua, which is a wonderful a part of the Douro Valley to base your self.
We stayed at Casa do Romezal, a family-run guesthouse with unbelievable winery views (and so they make their very own wine, too). We did not get to benefit from the out of doors areas as a lot as we had hoped due to the wildfires within the Douro on the time, however I’d nonetheless extremely advocate this spot.
And Peso da Régua can also be a surprisingly great place for foodies! A pair locations I might advocate for dinner embody Tasca da Quinta, O Maleiro, and Aneto & Desk. You’ll be able to attempt native meals (and wine, in fact) and all of those spots.
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Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Harmful Enterprise Journey Weblog. She has traveled to greater than 60 international locations on 6 continents from her dwelling base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and considerate journey by means of the US, Europe, and remainder of the world. Amanda solely shares suggestions primarily based on her private experiences and locations she’s truly traveled!