A Tasting At Augusto’s: The Proof Is In The Port

Augusto's port wine, Vila Nova de Gaia

You’ve got to hand it to Augusto’s, a small Portuguese name competing in a port wine market filled with high-profile brands like Taylor’s, Graham’s, Cockburn’s, Sandeman, Ferreira, Dow’s, et al. It must be daunting. Augusto’s is one of just three completely Portuguese port wine companies, a former supplier that has emerged as its own brand recently. The major players are well-established port wine houses with fancy visitor centres, restaurants, hotels, and event spaces.

But it also means Augusto’s can focus on just one thing: the port.

If you are well-versed in the language of port wine, you’ll probably want to skip the tour and go straight into a tasting. But we were three people with a guide to ourselves (Carole), and for that it was worth the tour, since we could ask what we liked. Where the guide also matters is when it comes to the tastings, and in the other tours I’ve taken (Taylor’s, Croft, Graham’s) the guides usually disappear to prepare for the next tours. At Augusto’s, your guide is also your salesperson, and if you buy product the tour fee (€5) is waived, making the tour and tasting an integrated experience since there is no “hand-off”.

Augusto’s space is modern/minimalist and laid out for illustrative purposes rather than doubling as a cellar. Instead, operations are entirely upriver, the wine processed mostly manually and stored at their quintas in the Douro Valley. They don’t mass produce, export, or sell to supermarkets, which is why you’ve probably never heard of them. But considering their size and recent entry into the market, they’re doing rather well on TripAdvisor (currently #9/18).

I mentioned recently that I planned to visit the other port wine lodges in Gaia this winter, and I had Augusto’s specifically in mind. A couple of weeks ago when our visitors said they wanted to do a tour and tasting, I gave them some options and we all voted for the smaller one. Most people find Augusto’s by chance or through one of their PR people, because it’s hidden away in an alley off the waterfront in Gaia. But I found out about them last autumn, when I was tour-guiding an American friend-of-a-friend and an Augusto’s rep spotted us and handed me a leaflet. I was already interested when he said they’re a small Portuguese company and had tours until 7pm (later than most, if not the rest), but I was sold when he pointed at Ice the Dog and said I could bring him. (And we did!)

As you can see, we had a rather generous tasting for three people. It’s a good thing we’d just had lunch, because we ended up trying five ports each! We were all pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the varieties, and the other two kept tasting in order to decide what they wanted to buy. In the end, they came away with a 10-year old Late Bottle Vintage (if my impaired memory serves me correctly), and everyone was happy.

For five euros, you really can’t go wrong here. You can upgrade your tastings to include more vintages, if you like, the full menus are provided at the tasting.