3 vinos de mesa y 5 vinos de Oporto + Tapas

After careful searching we booked and paid this visit the 1st of July to have it on the 10th of July. The same day the reservation was confirmed with number 1153292979 by Viator. And then the 9th July, just 18 hours before the visit, it was cancelled without any reason by email. When I'm on holiday, I try to look at my email as less as possible. We got our money back, but if I cancel it 18 (!!!) hours before the start without, I do not get my money back. Terrible experience.

Guide was very knowledgeable. Very great tasting at each so. Would recommend this tour to anyone looking for shorter tour.

The tour itself was very good. We were taken to 2 store fronts in Porto and a store called Meia Duzia- A Taste of Portugal. The first place we went was called Cibinho. We were taken upstairs where there were tasting tables. There was a small charcuterie board with cheeses, hams, olives and bread waiting for us. We were not served wine tastings here, we were served glasses of wine! The first wine we tried was a delicious green wine that had frozen grapes in the bottom of our wine glass. We then tried a white wine and then a red wine from the Duoro Valley region. All were delicious. We left there and were taken to a store called Meia Duzia. We had never seen a store like this. They sold food items in tubes that looked like toothpaste tubes. They had jams, olive pastes and flavored chocolates. They gave us a little spoon and let us taste as many as we wanted. Of course we bought several tubes to take home. We left there and went to Lado Wines. They had a small table set up on the street and the owner brought ports out to us to taste. We tasted a regular port wine, 2 delicious tawny's and a ruby port. They would ship wines home, so we bought some wine and port here and had them shipped. We purchased this tour through Viator, so we didn't get to pick our guide. When you purchase a tour directly from Portugal with a Local, you do get to choose. Our guide Carolina was very nice, but she wasn't a good match for us. We like a guide that is constantly giving us information about where we are, the history that surrounds us, how the people live their lives today, the culture of the city, etc.... Carolina wasn't like that. She was very low key. She answered our questions readily enough, but didn't offer up conversation. If we didn't ask something, she didn't talk. Overall, this was a great tour.

Bernardo was wonderful! So passionate about his native Porto and a great history buff. Delicious wines and tapas. Loved meandering through the medieval streets.

Tastings were educational and excellent with nice food pairings. It was great to be exposed to the local wine and ports.

Lengthy review alert! This private tour w/the full attention of Andre for the entire afternoon w/me and hubs was our week stay highlight. Bonus: Andre completely personalized our precious Porto time together. I booked this particular tour for a few reasons: 1) Not as much walking as a standard walking tour, as I’m in a foot brace 2) 1-on-1 beats a crowd of 20+ 3) Value - just of the samplings themselves was a bargain & 4) we don’t enjoy the large bus, tram, etc tour crowd scene and the unpredictable. Photo highlights included. A few days prior, Andre asked us about our interests so that he could best convey his vast Porto and Portugal knowledge in a relatable way. He contacted me in advance via What’s AP to get any input or requests and check for food allergies. That was so key to feel comfortable quickly, like we were with someone who knew us and had our best interests at heart to maximize our time. We loved what he composed, w/slight pivot due to one wine shop being unexpectedly closed plus contending with a rare rainy afternoon. I cannot stress enough how much we gaines by Andre’s VALUE-ADDED native Portuguese wisdom, city history, language/culture/travel advice and more. He explained the names of streets, old city design, significance of tile colors, # of balconies per dwelling, impacts of religion on housing styles and location & pronunciation of Portuguese words. We had fun comparing Portuguese words with several languages we speak between us (English, French, Italian and Spanish). Plus getting to know his background as a Porto travel expert and music reviewer was so enjoyable. We devoured all the delicious charcuterie, amazing local jams and jellies (see photos) , & warmed crispy/flaky crust w/sweet & creamy filling @Nata Lisbon before light walking to next enjoy local green wine and later, incredible ports only produced in small quantities. Definitely eye-opening and port preference-changing for me! As luck would have it, the day prior we did a port tasting at a large producer’s port cave; tremendous noticeable quality difference with what Andre led us to experience over the larger producer. It was the most enriching time and we were disappointed when it was over! Until next time, Andre, abrigado!

We had a very knowledgable guide who walked us around Porto downtown before introducing us to the jam shop (check it out it’s amazing) and the final venue where we received 5 port tasters and tapas. The advert promised 3 table wines, 5 port wines and tapas visiting 3 wine houses. Whilst the guide did a good job we were let down by receiving a completely different tour which did not match with expectations or value for money considering what we paid. I would not have purchased the tour we received and certainly not for what we paid as it turned into a long walk around Porto, with part of what we expected tucked in at the end.

A super tour, so much really interesting information about the area, the history, the culture and of course the food and wine. Andre was a great host and we would thoroughly recommend taking this tour to others.

Andre, our guide, was outstanding. It was like spending an afternoon with a good friend. His knowledge of the area was excellent as well as port and we never felt rushed. Many good tastes and also tapas.

I’m not sure we got the right “tour” because it didn’t match the description but regardless it was a pleasant couple of hours and Sara, our host, was lovely. I had specifically chosen this tour to experience a port house in Gaia and that didn’t happen but the two tastings we did were lovely and we got our first taste of tawny port which we actually liked.