The valley around the Douro River, the cradle of Port, is one of the oldest and most beautiful historic wine regions. Wine has been produced here for two thousand years.
In 1756, the Douro Valley became the first official legally defined wine region in the world.
The peaks of the Marao Mountains prevent the penetration of humid winds from the Atlantic coast, so the summers here are very hot, even 40 ° C, and on the contrary, the winters are quite freezing. Even thanks to these weather conditions and the wild, mountainous landscape, this region is sparsely populated. The difficult accessibility and distance to the more populous coast also played a role here in the past.
Most of the best vineyards are planted on steep slopes towards the Douro River and its tributaries Pinhão, Tavora and Rio Torto. Almost two thirds of the vineyards are planted on slopes with a slope of more than 30 %.
