Porto's Famous Wine and Yummy Food

We caught the 901 bus across the river where all the port houses are located. Our friend Elio, a sommelier of enormous talent, told us that if we were going to visit one house (maker) it should be Graham's, so ff to Grahams' we went. The bus takes you past neighborhoods that are definitely not on the tourist maps and down some very narrow streets, barely wide enough for the buses to clear one another.

There's a lot of construction going on on this side of the river, mostly modern high rises which seem to signal that gentrification is coming. After about 30 minutes we alighted and walked toward the river, at last arriving at Graham's warehouse and tasting room.

Though we didn't choose to do so, you can dine at Graham's, either at the wine bar

or in the Vinum restaurant, which offers a high end dining experience. There are also tastings that can be booked which include a tour of the lodge (the historic, specialized warehouse used to age, blend, and store Port wine.) We chose, though, to visit the main tasting room where you can choose from several tasting flights and add-on glasses.

The room was immense and, as you can see, totally empty. Actually, there was one other couple sitting by the window, but they were finishing up their tasting flight and left shortly after we arrived, giving us full run of the place. We chose a flight consisting of a 2018 late-bottled Quinta dos Malvedos, a 1997 single harvest tawny, and a vintage Quinta dos Malvedos.

We added a white port, Graham's Blend No.5, a 40-year-old tawny port, and a 1985 Vintage ruby port. The Blend No. 5 is a little sweet but makes the perfect porto tonico, like a gin and tonic but with white port standing in for the gin. The ruby ports were lovely and with each increase in years spent aging, the complexity increased. The 40-year-old was glorious. There was one older vintage on the menu which I would love to have tasted but it went for around $200 per glass. Bruce's favorites were the tawny ports which were very reminiscent of Malmsey Madeira, lots of caramel and vanilla flavors. Though they were small glasses, it was quite a lot of wine but we munched marcona almonds and sipped very slowly. As you can see, we made short work of it.

Before you leave you walk through the shop where you can choose from many different vintages and styles to take home. You could have this one for a cool €18,500 (approximately $22,000.)

Had the weather been nicer, I would have loved to sit on the patio and drink in the view.

Instead, we marched off to the bus stop to get the bus to the Bolhão Market.

When we got there, a samba concert was in progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP8ZN8ipUa4

We stopped at one of the seafood stands for an assortment of delicacies and at one of the wine stands for a glass to go with. Yeah, after the port, we probably didn't need it, but after the port, our judgement was probably more than a little impaired.

There was a stand where they made pasta in a giant bowl made of cheese. It looked better than it ultimately tasted. Oh well.

I wonder why they put these signs on the stand that sold wine. Note: they're all in English.

Lovely port, lovely food, and a bit of samba - what a great day!