Description of Experience
Between riverbanks, origin and identity
This journey offers a thoughtful exploration of Monção and Melgaço, the two municipalities at the heart of the Vinho Verde sub-region and the birthplace of the Alvarinho grape variety.
We are in a border territory shaped by history and cultural continuity. Across the Minho River lies Galicia, which shares this same variety — Albariño in Spain — rooted on both banks within a landscape formed by movement, adaptation and a long-standing human presence.
Here, Alvarinho is more than wine. It is heritage, culture and an expression of place. Cultivated for generations, it found singular conditions in this Atlantic valley — climate, soils and geomorphology — becoming a direct outcome of the landscape and of the enduring relationship between human practices and nature.
Through an attentive approach to this wine-growing territory, the journey traces the origins of Alvarinho, its adaptation to the Minho Valley and its natural expansion into Galicia. Visits to two carefully selected estates, guided tastings and moments of landscape reading allow wine, history and territory to be encountered at the calm rhythm of rural Minho life.
Experience details
EXPERIENCE DURATION
• Approx. 7 to 8 hours
WAY OF EXPERIENCING
● Territory mediation, led locally
● Journey through the landscape from Monção to Melgaço
• Visits to selected producers, with commented wine tasting
● Reading the wine-growing landscape, attuned to food, production, and local identity
● A calm, attentive pace, allowing time to observe and understand
DAY UNFOLDING
● Group meeting and introduction to the territory
● Visit to the first wine estate
— Savoring Alvarinho
● A contemplative walk through the historic centre of Monção or Melgaço
● Regional lunch
● Savouring wines at a second wine estate
● Return to the meeting point
EXPERIENCE CONDITIONS
● Experience available from a minimum of 2 participants
VALUE OF THE EXPERIENCE
• €180 per person
● For groups of 5 or more people, the price per person can be adjusted.
— Designed for a minimum of two participants, the experience is attentively guided, allowing time, care, and meaningful engagement
WHAT IS INCLUDED
● Territory mediation, led locally
● Transport
● Regional lunch
● Two visits to wine producers
● A contemplative walk through the historic centre of Monção or Melgaço
● Civil liability and personal accident insurance
● VAT
MEETING POINTS
● Ponte de Lima
● Monção
● Melgaço
— Porto, Braga and Viana do Castelo: subject to availability and upon request
HALF-DAY EXPERIENCE
● Available upon request
Gallery
