PT Portugal
Douro Valley
Schist terraces, river light and a journey that works beautifully by rail.
Best Sep — Oct · 4–6 days · OPO 101 minTravel thoughtfully · drink responsibly · 18+
4 of 20 regions
Fortified and sweet.
Port, sherry, Madeira and Tokaji aszú. A fundamentally different trip: the drama is in cellars, casks and ageing rather than in the vineyard, and the wines have been made this way for centuries because of how they travelled.
How a region qualifies
The region's principal wines are fortified or botrytis-affected, as listed in its own grape line.
What it changes
These are lodge-and-bodega trips, run to fixed tour times, often in cold buildings. Two visits is a full day, and the tastings are slower than you expect.
The 4 regions
ES Spain
Jerez
White albariza soil, cathedral-scale bodegas and a wine style that exists almost nowhere else.
Best Mar — May · Sep — Nov · 3–4 days · XRY 18 minPT Portugal
Madeira
Terraced smallholdings above the Atlantic, and a fortified wine deliberately aged by heat.
Best Apr — Oct · 4–7 days · FNC 21 minHU Hungary
Tokaj
Volcanic hills, mould-black cellars cut into rock, and a sweet wine that was regulated before almost any other.
Best Sep — Oct · 3–4 days · KSC 89 minOther kinds of trip
one base, no moving, walking between the wine, volcanoes and altitude, the drive is the trip, and sparkling. Or start from the places themselves.