Quick pub (or wine bar) quiz question: what is the oldest demarcated winemaking region in the world? Some clues: it’s not Bordeaux or Champagne, or even Greece, Iran and Georgia, where they’ve been cultivating grapes for about 8000 years. The answer is the Douro Valley, whose vine-clad slopes rise above Portugal’s “river of gold”.
Wine was quaffed here in the Bronze Age and ancient Roman period, but in 1756, the Douro became the first to have officially designated winemaking borders.
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