For my third trip to Portugal in four years, my friend Kelly and I decided to rent a car and head north to three Portuguese wine regions: Bairrada, The Douro and Dão. Except guess what – we accidentally covered two more, by visiting Ramilo wines on the day I arrived, in the Colares sub-region of the Lisboa DO, and then Vinho Verde (where the Octant Douro Hotel is located … read on for more explanation of that).

Having a car gives you great range and freedom, and driving in Portugal is easy ( the steering wheel is on same side as in U.S.)

The Most Important Tip for a Wine Road Trip If you plan to buy wine – and of course, you do – consider the season. It was hot AF when I was there in late June/early July, and we schlepped bottles into restaurants, hotel rooms and winery tasting rooms, to keep it from cooking in the car.

Okay, ready to go? Vamos!

DRINK: We started in Cascais, a seaside town 45 minutes from Lisbon. From there, we Uber’ed to Ramilo Winery in the village of Mafra, in Lisboa’s Colares region, the western-most wine growing area in all of Europe. Pre-book a vineyard tour and/or tasting by emailing info@ramilowines.com. Winemaker Jorge Mata walked us through the vineyards and tasted us on a range of his extraordinary wines. I’ve never tasted anything like these. Each has a hint of saline (close to the ocean), and Jorge’s philosophy is to let the grapes do the talking. “It’s just smashed, fermented grapes,” he said. It is small-production (less than 5000 bottles) and low-intervention. Not only did I meet some new-to-me grapes, like Gallego Dourado and Ramisco, but I dropped 100E on their last bottle of 2022 Rosé of Ramisco. Yep, that’s how special it is. If you have up to 10 people, they can arrange for a lunch and tasting outdoors.

DRINK On Sunday morning, we hit the highway and drove two hours and 20 minutes up to Bairrada, to visit with Rui Lucas, owner and winemaker at Prior Lucas Wines. Bairrada is known for two grapes: Baga (red) and Bical (white) and also for it sparkling wines. After Rui welcomed us to “the best wine region in the world,” he set about opening bottles atop the gigantic eucalyptus tree trunk that serves as his tasting bar. He brought the region’s signature corn bread (like pound cake and corn bread had a baby) and his own olive oil to accompany the wines. We started with sparkling: Falala, an elegant blanc of blancs (16 euros,) and Sparkling Bairrada (Falala’s rambunctious teenage kid sister, for 13 euros) with Bical and Baga and some other grapes. Both are made in the méthode champenois.

I love Rui’s approach to farming, making wine and supporting his community. He started a “Reused Bottle Series,” to use fewer new glass bottles, he does not till his vineyards, and harvest draws his entire community near Coimbra to pick and process the grapes. He uses barrels that are made from local woods (eucalyptus, acacia and chestnut) and even has a giant Brazilian mahogany for aging red wines.

Book a tasting, or a lunch or even dinner in the vineyard by emailing invinopriorlucas@gmail.com. You will make a new friend in Rui and I guarantee you will love his wines.

EAT Rui recommended a local restaurant for the region’s speciality: suckling pig, which everyone pairs with the local sparkling wine (hence our new phrase, “Sparkling Pig”). Restaurant Julià Duarte restaurant is about 15 minutes away and IT. WAS. PERFECT! It was busy for Sunday lunch, but you know what? They take your name, point you over to the lady pouring glasses of sparkling wine and then another lady hands you a plate of local cheese and ham and you wait it out on the patio. And the cost of this gracious hospitality: nothing!

Don’t even bother with the menu. Just tell your server you want suckling pig, and it comes with salad and homemade potato chips. Get a bottle of sparkling Baga to pair and thank me later.

STAY This night, we stayed at a beautiful guest house in the rural community of Anadia called Quinta das Donas. They only have three rooms and we took two of them for ourselves. There is no restaurant, so we dined on nuts and cheese with some of the wine we’d purchased, hanging out by the pool, and later in their beautiful living room. There’s tea and coffee in the room and I think it was 100 euros each for the night. Highly recommend for an overnighter, as you make your way north to the Douro.

STAY We arrived at the Octant Douro in time for lunch on the rooftop terrace and the infinity pool with one of the most beautiful views in the world. The important thing to know about the Octant Douro is this: it is ON the Douro River, but it is not IN the Douro wine region. It is technically within the Vinho Verde wine region. (Their house Vinho Verde – which we were delighted to discover a chilled bottled of in our room after our poolside afternoon – is phenomenal). It’s a luxurious resort, with full spa facilities and TWO pools, and a wonderful restaurant called Raiva. It’s the perfect entrée to the Douro region – but you’ll have t venture more than two hours to get to wineries.

EAT & DRINK The Octant Douro is an ideal landing spot (about an hour from Porto) and we were ready for a day of rest and relaxation. Definitely book a wine tasting (25 euros), at which you’ll taste “Three Ages of Douro,” starting with that Vinho Verde – bright and prickly on the tongue, with tangy acidity and bright citrus and green apple flavors, progressing to their private label Touring Nacional, the signature grape of The Douro (yes, yes yes!! I loved it so, so much. One sniff and I got a tidal wave of black fruit, plum jam, Earl Grey tea, chocolate, vanilla and more. We finished with Maynard’s 20-Year Tawny port dramatically poured out of a one-gallon bottle. (The Octant has 150 port wines on their wine list).

Leonardo, our sommelier, was stellar, answering every question and at dinner at Raiva, his wine pairing suggestions were perfection. The Octant has multiple locations across Portugal and they really do things right. I recommend searching for them wherever your Portugal road trip takes you! (I was graciously offered a media rate for the night.)

STAY After a leisurely breakfast at the Octant, we loaded the car and hit the long, steep, curvy roads deep into the Douro. Our destination: Quinta de la Rosa, a winery and hotel smack on the Douro River, about two hours’ east. There is a beautiful swimming pool, several styles of rooms and a fantastic restaurant ( also a lot of stairs FYI) all nestled right into the rocky hillside. I loved their rosé port, and you can set up a variety of tasting experiences and tours.

DRINK After dropping our bags, we ordered a taxi to take us up to Quinta do Jalloto, which is ON TOP OF THE WORLD! And if you take only one thing from this entire story, let is be this: do not drive up to Quinta do Jalloto yourself! It is windy and steep and you will careen through tiny villages with roads that were built to acommodate a donkey and cart, not a car. Our taxi driver did a masterful job (clearly, he’s done it a million times), but after a wine tasting, it would be literally a suicide run to drive it yourself.

But DO go to Quinta do Jalloto! We booked the tastings of nearly everything they had (we weren’t driving!), and we also ordered a charcuterie platter, which came with empadas (aka empanadas), meats, cheeses, and breads. It was a perfect lunch. The wines are phenomenal and the views are almost indescribably beautiful. Go. Do not miss this winery!

EAT & DRINK The next dawned bright and hot and we headed across the river to Quinta do Bomfim, home of Dow’s Port, one of the most historic Port wineries, owned by one of the “first families of Portugal,” the Symington family. One of the most interesting things about Dow’s is how they’ve been shifting focus to meet consumer demands for high quality wines as well as beautiful Port wines. We started in the shop with our guide Luis (he was fantastic), and saw some of the newer wines like Pequeno Dilema (a line of approachable red, white and rosés from 18 euros), Ilustres Deconhecidos (a line of small-parcel, small-production white wines) and even Vertices, a sparkling gouveio.

The tour of the cellars and winemaking facility is fascinating and I highly recommend visiting. You can book a tour, and a port wine tasting, and you should definitely book lunch at 1896 with Pedro Lemos. The food and service were impeccable, and of course, you can try whatever wines you like. You should definitely close your meal with one of my favorites – Dow’s 20-year Tawny Port.

Oh my God, are you still with me? Because we’re headed to the Dão region now, about two and a half hours south. The Dão is the oldest DO in the world, demarcated in 1908 for still wines (Douro is even older – but for port wine).

DRINK It’s a beautiful drive, and after trying really hard, driving up into a tiny village and calling and walking around, we were not able to find our first appointment, Quinta da Pellada, whose founder is known as the “grandfather of the Dão.” So we pivoted and crashed Casa da Passarella without an appointment, and they could not have been more gracious! It was a lazy Thursday afternoon and we were so lucky that Iliana, who heads up their export business, offered to spend time with us. The grounds are gorgeous, and they are restoring the original casa into a B&B which will be a glorious, relaxing place to spend time. The current owner is a man whose grandfather used to work in the vineyard at Casa da Passarella and that is just one of the many stories behind these wines. We loved the wines, especially the Abanico, a white field blend, and Oenology, a red blend of 24 grapes.

DRINK It feels like it’s 250 degrees out, but we are not done yet! We have a 3:00 appointment at Textura, a new winery owned by a Brazilian couple. Texture has a woman winemaker who is putting innovation and sustainability first. The wines are fun, exciting and delicious! You can book a tasting, and you also can book a group lunch and tasting and also private events. It’s a gorgeous property, and our host Marco was so knowledgeable, fun and generous!

STAY Our landing spot was Quinta de São Francisco Houses in Viseu. I cannot recommend this place highly enough! The owners, Sonia and José were as warm and welcoming as old friends. The property is a working winery and the hotel part – which is four beautifully appointed rooms – opened in October 2023. We booked the two-bedroom, two-bath Olive Tree apartment, and prices were super reasonable. They do serve breakfast (best scrambled eggs of my life), but there is no restaurant, so plan on going into town for dinner (Viseu has many excellent restaurant, including Michelin-recommended Flora and Michelin one-star Mesa de Lemos.)

The wines made at Quinta de São Francisco are absolutely amazing. Of the whites, we tasted 100% Malvasia Fina, a blend of Malvasia Fina and Encruzado (these are the two signature white grapes of Dão) and a 14-grape field blend from Lafões, a nearby subregion of Dão (which ended up being my fave). I cannot wait to taste the red that I brought home – I know it is going to be delicious.

That’s it! I hope this inspired you to put a driving trip in Portugal onto your radar. It was unforgettable, insightful, fun and delicious and I feel like we made friends along the way that I will see again. Also, my suitcases are stuffed with bottles to share with friends here at home! If you have questions about doing your own roadtrip, feel free to reach out to me. Cheers!