Private Douro Valley Tour with Sommelier, Lunch and Wine Tasting

Well worth taking a full day trip from Porto into the amazing Douro Valley. If you appreciate a first class experience then you’ll find the tour with João hard to beat. He lives in the valley and is very well connected, very knowledgeable. The whole family really enjoyed our visit.

Joao was great. He took us to two very different wineries. The first was a family run vineyard making wine via organic methods. Even the design for the bottles were as unique as the wine and they sold to local restaurants. The second was part of the Symington family of wineries and was also great. Looking out onto the river while tasting wines doesn’t get much better. Joao also took us to a local restaurant for lunch where we had traditional dishes with some more wine. Finally after touring all around the valley Joao saved the best for last. He took us to a wine maker who had some of the most delicious Tawny port. The 40 & 50 year old small batches are made by a local and sold locally. Best of all when we went to dinner that night the restaurant we had made reservations with carried both the organic wine and small batch port. Needless to say we had we had a bottle with dinner. I would highly recommend as Joao was great and very knowledgeable.

Our experience with Joao was nothing short of amazing. He was incredibly responsive from the first time we reached out to him before we left for our trip abroad. We started our first day with Joao as strangers and ended up as friends. It truly felt like we were touring with a good friend that knows the area very well. His love of his country and the wines and ports produced in the Douro Valley is evident. We spent two days with Joao. The first to Douro Valley from Porto and the second travelling to Lisbon from Porto. In the Douro Valley he first took us to a small family-owned vineyard with excellent wines which we purchased to be shipped back to the States. He then took us to a small family-owned Port maker with the most delicious port we have ever had. The owners of the two places in the Duoro Valley Joao took us to were also incredibly welcoming. Our trip from Porto to Lisbon was a long one with many stops along the way for Joao to show us some highlights of his country. Both trips were extremely reasonable in price. Even after our return to the States, Joao continued to be helpful in assisting us with wines we purchased in Portugal. We cannot recommend Joao enough.