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We’ve created a 3-day tour that explores the evolution of the world’s true Port, starting in the steep hillside vineyards of the Douro. On these historic quinta estates, harvests become complex fortified wines, brought down the river to age in the elegant lodges of Gaia. They’re especially magnificent enjoyed from here, overlooking the picturesque tile roofs of Porto.

At the historic Bodega Baquero in Maipú, the founders’ granddaughters are finding new uses for the harvest of both grapes and olives. They’ve created a line of beauty products available in their 1886 cellar. And a one-day wine and perfume workshop that gets to the essence of discerning and describing all the rich aromas of wines.

It is in the Wine Cellar at The Yeatman, with 1,300 bottles of wine bearing witness, that we are welcomed by Beatriz Machado and the smile on her face. She tells us that when she was invited to join the Yeatman team, the CEO asked her if she knew all the Portuguese wines. She did not allow herself to become unnerved by the question, and promptly answered: “to know them all, I shall have to try them all”. And so she did. She tried them all and not only did she become the Yeatman’s Wine Director, as she also became the “Ambassador of Portuguese wines”.

As winemaker at Peju Napa Valley in Rutherford, Sara Fowler works at ground zero in both culture and terroir of the wine country. In 2007, she led the winery’s efforts to achieve organic certification in the Rutherford Vineyard and she’s currently overseeing sustainable farming in its Persephone and Wappo Vineyards, with the ultimate goal of going organic there. Learn more about her and her favorite tasting experiences in the Napa Valley.