Jeremy previews the new tour following the Duero/ Douro river from Madrid to Porto
Jeremy and co-host author Ian Mount will be leading a group along the mighty golden river, showcasing the great wine, food and scenery along the way.
Despite our name, we do few tours that span Portugal and Spain on the same trip. Our new Golden River tour explores the heart of Iberia from the capital of Spain to Porto. The ‘Golden’ Douro is one of the world’s great wine rivers both as the Spanish Duero and the Portuguese home to more than hello of the world’s mountain vineyards.
Our tour takes us west out of Madrid to savour the landscapes and delicacy of high altitude Garnacha near Avila, ethereal rufete in the Sierra de Salamanca and the rare Juan Garcia blends on the border the Arribes region. From this point we hug the Duero as it crosses the border and follow it all the way to the Atlantic at Porto, via some truly jawdropping scenery and timeless landscapes.
We are delighted to be sharing this journey with Ian Mount, a wine writer we discovered on the remote roads of the Uco valley in Argentina, author of ‘The Vineyard at the End of the World’ and subsequent Barcelona and now Madrid based journalist. We’ve really enjoyed travelling with Ian before in Spain and are fans of The Bubble, his new English language newsletter about all things Spanish.
Ian and I will lead the group through some of the finer (but lesser known) parts of Madrid and Porto and we will meet some magical characters along the roads in between, from English Charlotte ‘La Francesa’ in Arribes to Agustin Seisdedos (‘six fingers’) in remote Mogarraz via the world’s Jamon capital and some of the most revered sites in the heart of the Douro, from John Major’s favourite holiday house at Quinta dos Malvedos to the unforgettable Noval, source of the number 2 wine of the 20th century (according to Wine Spectator).
The best journeys are shared with friends and we intend to have a lot of fun connecting with some great characters along less travelled roads in just about our favourite wine country. If you’d like to share a few dozen glasses with Ian and Jeremy on the Golden River, we’d love to see you.
