Portugal Day 5 - Porto, Porto and more Porto

I think the past week and a half of eating and drinking to excess has finally caught up with me. I squeezed in a short mediocre workout (and of course this is the one gym that is fully loaded and modern!) and got ready for a huge day of port tasting.

The RRR's were catching up on some rest (we were all feeling a bit lethargic) and we decided to meet up with them a bit later at Taylor's. Mitch, Sharpie and I took the lead and our first stop was Ferriera, where we booked ourselves on a noon tour and tasting. With some time to kill before we met up with the marrieds, we made a pit stop at Croft.

We started our Croft tasting with Porto Bianco, a young white port drunk as an aperitif. It was smooth with a bit of a burn on the throat. We also tried a Porto Reserva 5 year port that wasn't overly sweet with more qualities of a wine than of a port.

We decided to forgo purchases here and continued up the cobblestone hill to Offley. The tasting room was quite picturesque and the gentlemen pouring for Mitch was quite friendly and knowledgeable and poured some great reserve ports. Mitch made a purchase here and then it was off to Taylor's to meet the RRR's. Little did we know, Taylor's was closed on Saturday's so when the RRR's arrived we headed to Burmester instead.

Burmester had a lovely tasting room a bit off the beaten path from Porto's other bodegas. We had an extra dry white port which was good but I was finding that I preferred the sweeter whites. I was really impressed with Burmester's 10 year Tawny and for 17 euro it seemed like a decent deal. (plus the sausage in my suitcase needed a travel companion).

We headed down to Ferriera and went on an informative tour. Of course there's always "that guy" who asked a million stupid questions but it was still enjoyable. We tasted some nice ports and Mitch went back and tasted some more of the reserves. After all this port, food was definitely in order!

We stopped at Tapas Douro on the water. RRR and I split a tortilla with potato and ham along with half a sandwich on doughy bread with spicy ham, a fried pepper and brie. It was quite good! I am still amazed when simplest of ingredients come together to make a great meal! Having refueled and soaked up some of the port, we walked across one of the bridges to the other side of the Duoro and booked ourselves on a river cruise.

With to to spare before our touristy adventure, we headed to the Salon de Porto for you guessed it, more port. After a long walk to the top of a hill, we eventually made it to the Salon and I enjoyed one of the sweeter white ports from Calem and a LBV (late bottle vintage) ruby from Niepoort. The salon was quite picturesque and I was certainly in need of a nap but there wasn't any time for that of course! Instead, we hopped in a taxi and headed back to the river for our six bridges in fifty minutes cruise.

After waiting on the hot dock for a bit the boat finally came and we piled on along with a bunch of Spanish senior citizen aged tourists. The group was led by a colorful older gentleman and they all started singing in Spanish. So much fun!

After all this drinking and touring, Sharpie decided to hang back at our super cool hotel while the rest of us headed to D.Tonho back along the Duoro. I ordered the grilled octopus in vinaigrette for a starter. There was a small ring of fat around the tentacles and it was so fresh and flavorful. I could have eaten this dish all day!

I followed this with the waitress's recommendation, fried salt cod with potato chips and cabbage with vinegar. The cod was topped with some pickled soft onions, green olives and a bit of grated cheese. I found this combination to be odd but when the tastes all came together complimented by a tarty punch from the cabbage it was absolutely delightful!

For dessert we split a rich chocolate mousse, spongier than most and drizzled with syrup. Just when I thought I didn't have room for another morsel, I certainly had to find room for this chocolate decadence!

We piled back in the cab and decided that tomorrow's plan was no plan since we had a HUGE travel day in front of us... planes, trains and automobiles!