Portugal offers a great, undiscovered wine diversity. Viticulture and with it tourism are being modernised and are waiting to be discovered. Alexander Lupersböck travelled across the country.
Curtains open, and then: a wow effect like seldom before in my life. From my hotel room I look down on the famous steel bridge Ponte Luis I, built by Eiffel student Théophile Seyrig, one of the landmarks of Porto. This is possible because the entrance of our hotel Vincci Ponte de Ferro is right next to the bridge approach, the rooms are built into the hillside below. A trip that begins with such a breathtaking view simply has to be good.
And I am not disappointed: already at dinner with the likeable and witty Luis Cerdeira from the Quinta de Soalheiro, I cannot get out of the feel-good zone. His Vinho Verde show a fascinating variety of terroir expressions and maturation stages, from granite and unfiltered to espumante and seven years matured. Vinho Verde only fresh and green? Not at all. Behind the designation lies an entire wine universe.