Five Douro Table Wines Before the Port, in an Orangerie

Almost every tasting in Porto is about port. This one spends most of its ninety minutes on the wines the Douro makes when it does not fortify them, which is the part of the region's output most visitors never try.

It happens in the orangerie of a boutique hotel on Rua do Almada, in the old town, sitting down, with a sommelier rather than a script.

The pour is six glasses: a Douro white, a Douro Reserva white, a rosé, a Douro red, and either an organic or a reserva red, in fifty-millilitre measures, then thirty millilitres of white port at the end. Taken in that order you can follow what the schist and the altitude actually do, and why the same vineyards can produce both a lean white and a red with that much structure.

What comes with it is a plate of Portuguese tapas: local cheese, cured ham, biscuits and jam, changing with what is in.

The guide covers the grapes, the vineyards and how Douro winemaking evolved into what it is, which is a longer story than the fortification chapter usually allows. There is a dispenser on site that lets you extend the tasting with a twenty-year tawny and a Reserva ruby for an extra charge.

Up to fourteen guests, in Portuguese, English or Spanish. Solo travellers are welcome. Wheelchair accessible throughout. Parking can be booked at extra cost, and private transfers from anywhere in metropolitan Porto can be arranged. Everyone tasting must be eighteen or over and may be asked to prove it.