When the invitation arrived from The Fladgate Partnership and Mentzendorff to join the UK Port Buyers Harvest Trip, running from Monday 21st to Wednesday 23rd September 2026, the idea was simple: to see Port from the ground to the bottle. I look after the digital side of Cotswold Port Co, so I spend my days getting these wines onto our website and into customers' hands. This was a chance to see where they actually come from.

I was joined by a group from across the UK trade, including independent wine merchants, WSET educators, procurement managers, sommeliers and head of sales for Mentzendorff. It made for a brilliant mix of perspectives, and plenty of lively conversation over the three days.

A word on the weather first, because this year it shaped everything. Harvest 2026 in the Douro came early. The winter was extremely wet, then extreme temperatures in May and June affected how the grapes grew, and by midsummer the vines' growing cycle was running 10 to 12 days ahead of normal. Repeated heatwaves followed, and hotter temperatures and more frequent bouts of intense heat speed up the ripening of the grapes. The result was that harvest in the Douro was brought forward by one to two weeks.

The good news is that growers were expecting a harvest of good quality. The only downside for us was timing: the early picking meant we didn't get to take part in the foot treading.

Portugal takes its name from Portus Cale, an ancient Roman-Celtic settlement at the mouth of the Douro River, right where modern Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia now face each other across the water.

Porto sits on the north bank, its riverside district of Ribeira a jumble of colourful houses, tiled facades and steep lanes. The city's historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one look from the river tells you why. Linking the two banks is the iron Dom Luis I Bridge, opened in 1886, with its famous double deck.

Across the river is Vila Nova de Gaia, which for anyone in the wine trade is sacred ground. Port houses have aged their wines here for more than three hundred years, bringing it down from the Douro Valley on traditional rabelo boats to mature in the cooler coastal air before shipping it around the world, much of it to Britain.

Our base for the first night was The Yeatman which sits in the historic heart of Vila Nova de Gaia, right beside the old Port lodges.

The name carries real heritage. Many of the oldest Port firms were founded by British merchant families and are still owned by their descendants today. The Yeatmans joined the Port trade in 1838, and their descendants now own three of the most famous Port companies. The hotel was named to celebrate the family's historic link with the city, and it has been open since August 2010.

Our host was Joao Vasconcelos, Sales Director for Taylor's, Fladgate and The Yeatman, whose knowledge, warmth and generosity set the tone from the very first hour.

Our first stop was lunch at Golden Catch, one of WOW's restaurants, which specialises in fish and seafood and has some of the best views across Porto from its riverside terrace. We left the ordering to Joao, a very wise decision: he chose a selection of starters for the table, followed by beautifully cooked sea bass, all with a selection of Fladgate wines. The perfect introduction to Portuguese hospitality.

After lunch we explored WOW, the World of Wine, and the scale of it is hard to overstate. WOW is the brainchild of Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership. It's a whole cultural district rather than a single museum, spread across 55,000m² of regenerated Port lodges at a cost of around €105m.

The idea goes back a long way. Fladgate first conceived it as early as 1986, when the regulations around exporting Port from the Douro changed, and it opened in July 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Rather than being just a wine museum, WOW was designed to celebrate Portugal's wine industry alongside its wider culture and history. As WOW's team put it, the aim is to bring all Portuguese wine together in one place. It has also given new life to this corner of Gaia, turning old warehouses into somewhere both locals and visitors want to spend a day.

Here's what you'll find there:

We only had time for The Port and Wine Experience on this trip, but here's everything else WOW has to offer:

• The Port and Wine Experience. WOW bills it as the best wine museum in the world. It's a journey through how wine is made and what makes Portuguese wine unique. This was the one we visited, and for someone like me, who talks about these wines every day but doesn't make them, it was the perfect primer.
• Pink Palace. A bright, playful world of rose wine, with tastings and plenty of photo opportunities.
• The Chocolate Experience by 20|20. Step inside the world of chocolate, from ancient rituals right through to a working factory. You go behind the scenes of the Vinte Vinte chocolate factory and discover, step by step, how this timeless indulgence is brought to life, with tastings included along the way. There are chocolate-making workshops for children too. We didn't have time to visit on this trip, but it's firmly on my list for next time, as we stock Vinte Vinte chocolates at Cotswold Port. And yes, these chocolates pair beautifully with Port.
• Porto Region Across the Ages. A multimedia journey through 1,000 years of Porto's history, and a great place to start if you want to understand the city.
• The Art of Drinking: The Bridge Collection. More than 2,000 objects telling the story of humanity's religious and social drinking rituals, with the oldest piece around 9,000 years old. The collection belongs to Adrian Bridge himself.
• Egyptian Treasures: A Timeless Journey. A temporary exhibition on Ancient Egypt in the Atkinson Museum, running until 31st October.
• There's also a museum escape room, "Mission: Save the Museum", plus a wine school running tastings and masterclasses, and a wide choice of restaurants and bars. A Day Pass covers five experiences, and it can be combined with a guided tour of the historic Taylor's or Fonseca cellars, which makes it an easy full day out for anyone visiting Porto.

Next, a short walk to Taylor's Lodge. Founded in 1692, Taylor's is one of the oldest Port houses, and walking through cellars lined with vast oak vats and rows of casks quietly ageing, you feel that history immediately. Then came the tasting: 13 wines covering almost every style Taylor's makes.

• Taylor's Chip Dry White Port. Taylor's was the first house to pioneer dry white aperitif Port, so this was the natural starting point. Crisp and dry, with hints of citrus and nuts.
• Taylor's Late Bottled Vintage 2021. Another category Taylor's pioneered, created as a high-quality, ready-to-drink alternative to Vintage Port. Rich and smooth, full of plums, blackberries and blackcurrant.
• Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port 2019. From Vargellas, Fladgate's flagship estate. Elegant and fragrant, with floral notes of violets and ripe red and black fruit.
• Taylor's Sentinels Vintage Port 2024 Sentinels is a blend from four estates around the Pinhao Valley, all within the original 1756 demarcation and holding feitoria status, the highest classification for Port vineyards. Its name comes from the granite markers that guard that historic boundary. It's a little lighter than the classic Vintage but still has real power, with Taylor's signature scent of roses and violets.
• Taylor's Vintage Port 2024. The headline act. Taylor's declared 2024 a Classic Vintage, its smallest release ever and its first classic declaration in six years. Deep, dark fruit, tremendous power, and yet surprisingly fresh, with a finish that just keeps going. One to lay down for decades.
• Taylor's Vintage Port 2007. A glimpse of what time does. At almost 20 years old, the fruit has softened into something rounder and more mellow, with dried fruit and a touch of spice, while still holding its structure. Tasting it next to the 2024 was a real lesson.
• Taylor's Historic Collection The Globe. Instantly recognisable from its round decanter-style bottle, The Globe is an aged tawny blended from Taylor's extensive tawny reserves. Deep reddish-brown, with warm aromas of coffee, butterscotch, dried fruit, plums and raisins. Smooth and silky, finishing with toffee and preserved fruit.
• Taylor's 10 Year Old Tawny. Aged in small oak casks, tawny Ports trade fresh fruit for nutty, caramel character as the years go by, and tasting them in a row shows this beautifully. The 10 Year Old is bright and approachable, with red fruit, toffee and a hint of almonds.
• Taylor's 20 Year Old Tawny. Smoother and more mellow, with caramel, roasted nuts and orange peel.
• Taylor's 30 Year Old Tawny. Richer again, with dried figs, honey and warm spice.
• Taylor's 40 Year Old Tawny. Intense and concentrated, with notes of coffee, dark marmalade and a very long finish.
• Taylor's Golden Age 50 Year Old Tawny. A spectacular finale. Half a century in cask has given it extraordinary depth, with layers of dried fruit, treacle and spice, yet it still feels fresh and lively.

We finished the day at Subenshi, one of the best-known sushi restaurants in Aveiro and Porto, which has made a new home at WOW. Once again Joao took charge of the menu, and a stream of sushi arrived for the table, paired with a selection of Fladgate wines and Port.

Then came the twist: a mystery Port, poured blind, and we had to guess what it was. The answer was Taylor's VVOP White Port, a Very, Very Old White Port, and quite a reveal. To earn that name, a Port has to be over 80 years old, and this blend includes wines dating back to 1896. It's the first aged white Port Taylor's has ever released, and the first of its kind from a leading Port house. Some of the wines in it started ageing in cask when much of the Douro still had no electricity.

In the glass it's a glowing amber-gold, with aromas of dried apricot, almond, candied orange peel and jasmine, then toasted hazelnut and honeycomb on the palate, all kept lively by a fresh, slightly salty edge. Paired with sushi, it was a combination none of us will forget.

What a way to start. In a single day we'd travelled through centuries of Port history, and I came away with far more than I arrived with. WOW was a real eye-opener; I could have spent days in those museums, and I left with a much deeper understanding of the wines I work with every day. The food was top notch from start to finish, Joao's choices at both Golden Catch and Subenshi were spot on, and The Yeatman was pure luxury, the kind of stay you don't forget in a hurry.

But the highlight had to be the wines. From a crisp Chip Dry to a 50 Year Old Tawny, plus a white Port made from wines older than anyone in the room, I tasted Ports I had never tried before, and some I may never get the chance to try again. For someone who spends most of the day behind a screen, it was a powerful reminder of the people, patience and history behind every bottle we sell.

And this was only Day 1. Tomorrow we leave the city behind, with a tasting of Fladgate wines and lunch at Quinta de Casal de Celeiros, a visit to Quinta da Nogueira, and then on to Quinta de Vargellas, Taylor's flagship estate in the Douro, for sundowners, dinner and a night among the vines.