The North Portugal is separated into two distant climate zones by a series of mountain ranges.
The coastal area to the west of the mountains is temperate and humid. From autumn to spring, warm, damp Atlantic breezes blow onshore bringing heavy rainfall to the seaboard and the western escarpments of the sierras. In summer, brisk northerlies keep the coastal area cool. However the mountains form a barrier to both prevailing winds and shield the hinterland to the east from their influence. As a result, the inland regions are much drier and subject to greater extremes of temperature than the wet and mild areas near the coast.
The Port vineyards of the Douro Valley lie inland to the east of the Marão mountain range. Here the winters are cold, with frequent frosts, and the summers extremely hot. Annual rainfall is low and the further east, the drier the climate becomes. At the eastern end of the valley annual precipitation falls to around 300mm. These conditions help limit vine yields and produce the dense, concentrated wines that are needed to make Port. However, they are not ideal for ageing.
The city of Oporto, on the other hand, located in the mild and humid coastal area, provides the ideal environment for long term storage in cask or bottle. Here, in the cool, dark lodges of the Port houses the wine matures slowly, gradually gaining in complexity and mellowness. Traditionally, the young Port was always shipped down from the vineyards to Oporto a few months after the harvest (in former times down the river in the famous 'rabelo' boats) before the onset of hot weather in the valley. Today, however, modern construction and air humidifying techniques mean that wines can also be aged in the Douro.
The city of Oporto, on the other hand, located in the mild and humid coastal area, provides the ideal environment for long term storage in cask or bottle. Here, in the cool, dark lodges of the Port houses the wine matures slowly, gradually gaining in complexity and mellowness. Traditionally, the young Port was always shipped down from the vineyards to Oporto a few months after the harvest (in former times down the river in the famous 'rabelo' boats) before the onset of hot weather in the valley. Today, however, modern construction and air humidifying techniques mean that wines can also be aged in the Douro.
Bisected by the Douro River as it flows westwards towards the Atlantic Ocean, the vineyard area is rocky and steep. Over time the Douro and its tributaries, such as the Pinhão, Távora and Rio Torto, have carved out an intricate system of deep twisting valleys, sometimes narrowing to sheer-sided ravines or gorges. It is on the vertiginous hillsides which border these waterways that most of the finest Port vineyards are planted. Here the rock bed is never far from the surface, often jutting out in large dramatic outcrops. This consists predominantly of a slate-like metamorphic rock known as schist.
Here, bedrock is never far from the surface, often jutting out in large, dramatic outcrops. This soil is made up predominantly of that metamorphic slate rock known as shale.
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