WINE ARCHITECTURE + GASTRONOMY ™
(Wine Experience of Portugal)
Porto and the Douro Valley, Portugal
October 1-9, 2020
An exquisite and unique landscape of historical significance and deep wine culture, embraces the very best of contemporary Portuguese architecture and cuisine.
The Douro Valley known for 150+ years as the source of the worlds’ finest Port Wine is now so much more. Join Culture Viewfinder on a new type of wine travel experience, driven as much by presenting compelling contemporary ‘wine architecture’ as by the spectrum of fine wines, and top-notch cuisine.
Culture Viewfinder's ‘wine architecture’ series begins in 2020 with a focus on the Douro Valley, the most famous and acclaimed of Portugal’s wine regions. Each destination has been selected for its superior wine, cuisine, and architecture in equal measure, as well as for breathtaking physical beauty and deep respect for the traditions of the region. Let yourself be transported as you enjoy personal tours by architects, an artisanal UNESCO World Heritage site and take in the Douro’s exceptional charm and bounty.
Culture Viewfinder restricts the size of its tours to small groups to ensure a premium travel experience.
Tour Itinerary
(a detailed itinerary will be provided only to registered tour participants)
Day 1 + 2 in Porto
Begin your journey at the Carris Porto Ribeira Hotel a characterful modern hotel, near the Douro River
Spend your first evening at a special Welcome Dinner and the next full day exploring the Serralves Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art (considered one of the top t10 art museums in the world), and a scenic downhill stroll through central historic Porto.
Day 3 + 4 in the central Douro
Early departure in a luxury A/C bus for our first full day in the Douro Valley. The Museu do Vinho, followed lunch with wine pairing at a famed Quinta that boasts the most incredible view of the Douro River and Valley as framed by Pritzker Award Winning architect Edouardo Souta de Moura, After lunch settle into an award winning wine experience hotel (2 nights) for a leisurely afternoon of R + R. Later tour the winery and new hotel wing with the architects, partake in a wine tasting. Cap the day with a gourmet dinner in the hotel’s restaurant.
We then move inland for the next day, in and around Vila Real, visiting a ceramics studio and learning about the unusual traditional black pottery of the region, a disappearing craft that has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Lunch is in central Vila Real, where we meet well-known local architect António Belém Lima who will take us to on a personal tour of two of his projects, including a winery located enroute back to our hotel. Tonight we dine at the Michelin listed DOC restaurant, created by celebrated Chef Rui Paula.
Day 5, 6 +7
As we move deeper into the Douro Valley, we explore a very sympathetic renovation and restoration of a more traditional winery, followed by a paired wine lunch in their fine restaurant.
We move on to our new hotel where we are perched right above the Douro River and can enjoy a pleasant afternoon by the pool or walking/hiking in the area. Dinner at the fine hotel restaurant designed by António Belém Lima.
In the morning it is a short hop to the river town of Pinhão, with its charming tiled train station, for a boat ride on the Douro River in a vintage Rabelo boat. This leisurely tour shows us another side of the Douro not accessible by road. Lunch follow at the historic Vintage House Hotel right at the river’s edge before travelling inland and north to our next destination hotel—a large, picturesque estate to settle into the lovely Manor House filled with antique furniture and modern art for two nights. Dinner is at the notable Morgadio do Calçada a short drive from the hotel.
Our last day in the Douro takes us to a local characterful mountain village, a famous traditional bakery, a local regional restaurant for lunch and a return to the estate to relax and have a late afternoon wine tasting and tour of the winery designed by Portugal’s most famous architect, Alvaro Siza Vieira. The final Douro Dinner will be at the estate’s excellent restaurant overlooking the mountains dotted by villages that sparkle in the night.
Day 8 + 9 Porto
Enjoy a leisurely breakfast, then we join together for a Group Picture before returning to Porto, arriving just north of the city along the Atlantic Coast for a lunch of fresh grilled fish and salad at the famed fishing port of Matosinhos. After lunch is a visit to the new Casa da Arquitectura gallery and shop and a return to the Carris Porto Ribeira Hotel and a free-time afternoon in Porto.
The tour’s Farewell Evening starts with a trip across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, home to the historic Port Lodges, where we will visit Graham’s Lodge, one of the oldest and most celebrated for a tour, a Port Wine Tasting from Graham’s Cellars and our Farewell Dinner a Vinum with its outstanding view overlooking the Douro and across to Porto. Dinner will be followed by an after dinner stroll along the Quay in Gaia, return to the hotel or free-time evening.
Day 9 we breakfast at the hotel and say our goodbyes.
The tour is complete and all participants will check-out and depart from the hotel independently.