​Porto: Best Served in a Post-Dinner Wine Glass

Leaving behind the slow-paced commune of elders that is the island of Madeira, we were pleasantly relieved to arrive in Porto, the 2nd largest city in Portugal, and find ourselves surrounded by those from a generation none too distant from our own. Selfie sticks replaced walking sticks. Late afternoon snacks replaced dinner. And the general feel of the lively café-inspired European environment was all around us.

With 4 days to spend within the confines of the “land of port,” our days were spent wandering, and our nights washing it all down with the sweet nectar of the Duoro Valley. As activities, events or occurrences of notable occasion were fairly far and few between, I feel this an apropos time (thank you Matrix writers) to provide a few “lesser known” facts regarding the primary export of this ancient “wine-sipping” town:

• Interesting Fact - Port wine, also known as Vinho de Porto, is produced exclusively in the Duoro Valley, 2-3 hours upriver from the city of Porto – Thus you can now officially scoff and spit at any bottle that originates from anywhere else.

• Slightly-Interpreted Fact – The original “inventors” of port wine failed to produce a quality wine, and thus chose to “bastardize” their failures by halting the natural fermentation process, adding a bottle of brandy to the mix (i.e. more alcohol), and in-turn, generating an ass-load more sugar (hurray for liquid diabetes!). One might say they invented the Four Loko of the wine industry.

• Color-Based Fact – Port wine can be red OR white. Mind… blown.

• Alcoholics-Anonymous-Based Fact – Port wine provides a notoriously-wicked hangover, which typically fails the “hair of the dog” treatment of further quantities of port wine the following day. Some folks whose noses tend to point upwards would argue you are not “sipping” the port correctly if you succumb to a hangover. Most folks don’t like these other folks.

• Non-Port-Related Fact Somehow Known by Julie – A group of talented Boilermakers from the University of Purdue developed a “licking machine,” reportedly modeled after a human tongue, which took an average of 364 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Boiler Up!

• Another Non-Port-Related Fact Completely-Related to the City of Porto – Many of the inspirations for the Harry Potter novels/films (as well as the 1st three chapters) derived from J.K. Rowling’s 2 years spent in this Northern Portuguese town.

 
Now that everyone has been slightly “learned” on this wonderful wine, primarily consumed by “fancy folks,” I leave you with some visualizations.
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Onto the pics: