One day after Cheese 2017, my wife and I flew to Portugal for six days. It was, in a way, our last chance to get away for a short holiday before the Christmas rush and recharge our batteries.
After arriving in Porto, we headed north, more specifically to Monção and Melgaço in the northern Minho region, where the best Alvarinho wines are famously produced. In Monção, we stayed in a beautiful solar, but it was in Melgaço that we discovered the best wines. The area is charming and very picturesque, with many small wineries selling their wine by the roadside. Sweet, but not what we were looking for. 
On the second day, we finally worked up the courage to visit one of the region's two most famous winemakers, Quinta do Soalheiro. I had already made contact in 2015, and the winemaker even remembered us, which was, of course, perfect.
We were allowed to tour the cellar and taste the wines, and we immediately understood why Alvarinho from Melgaço is so famous. It is simply very good, and the price is unbeatable. This gave us another reason to add two wines from Quinta to our range.
On Wednesday, we drove down to the Douro Valley, towards Pinhão. Following a spontaneous idea, we visited Nuno and Antonio along the way. The two "garage winemakers" are the founders of a small project like the hundreds of such projects in Portugal. They have been producing Boina tinto since 2015 and Boina branco since 2016. The wines are interesting and have been very successful in France, among other places, but we had already tried them last year and decided not to add them to our range. We simply prefer the contrast of Rita Marques' Conceito.
Coincidentally, Nuno and Antonio were just hosting the supplier of the Vinho Verde "Camaleão", whom they also know from us. The three are good friends and help each other out. A really pleasant afternoon!
On Thursday, we drove to Rita's in Cedofeita. The nearly 60-kilometer journey took us over two hours because of the small, winding roads, but the weather and scenery were so beautiful that we enjoyed the leisurely pace. Rita's new winery, which was only recently completed, is truly impressive: the cellar facility is brand new and blends perfectly into the landscape. It is also completely energy self-sufficient, all year round. We tried the Contraste rosé as our first wine and immediately placed an order for the last pallet. Next, we tried the Espumante 2014 Brut Natural made from 100% Grüner Veltliner, which was also excellent. Then we tasted the various Conceito whites and reds, and, of course, the Único tinto 2015. We ordered 60 bottles of that – there were no more available. Unfortunately, the Único branco is already sold out.
Things became particularly exciting when we selected a Reserva-quality wine exclusively for us with Rita and Manuel. 
We chose two barriques from the 2016 vintage. The wine will be bottled for us in April 2018 as a special edition of just 600 bottles!
Otherwise, Rita, Manuel, and Rita's husband Luís have launched a new project: they are making two "natural wines", a red and a white, from grapes from very old, forgotten vineyards in a region between the Douro and Dão. The wines from this project bear the evocative name "Ontem", Portuguese for "Yesterday". We tried them at lunch with the whole family. There was homemade blood sausage and a bean stew. The wines paired perfectly with this rustic meal, and we find them very interesting. We'll see whether we will import any.
Full and happy, we left Rita and her team and headed to the Dão region, where we fell into bed exhausted.
The next day, we visited Álvaro Castro at Quinta de Saes and Quinta da Pellada. We started the wine tasting early at 10 a.m. It really isn't easy, this life ... ;)
The simple wines are very good, especially the reds. We also really liked his and our "bestseller": the Estagio Prolongado 2014, which we ordered right away. We currently still have a few last bottles from the 2012 vintage.
After the wine tasting, we set off for Matosinhos, the small port town north of Porto. We spontaneously stopped by Conserveira Pinhais, where we had been turned away several times before. But this time we were lucky, and our persistence paid off: the new manager, Nuno, welcomed us warmly, showed us around the factory, and was happy to explain everything.
In the evening, we enjoyed a beer on the beach and watched the sunset while reflecting on the many experiences of the past few days. Now we look forward to the delivery of the various wines, which will arrive one after another. We will, of course, keep you updated!
