Pipadouro, a leading company in luxury river tourism on the Douro River, continues to diversify its Vintage Wine Travel offer, offering its customers a journey into the world of Portugal’s oldest wine company: Real Companhia Velha.

A specialist in designing experiences that last in time and memory, the operator has added a new route to the ‘One Day in the Douro’ program, the most popular with tourists throughout 2024, as it represents a complete option for those who want to explore the countless charms of the Douro region in a short space of time.

The program already included sailing on the company’s Gentleman’s Vintage Boats from the private dock in Pinhão, followed by a visit and harmonized lunch at emblematic venues such as Quinta do Crasto, Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo or Quinta de Ventozelo, among others. Now you have the option of Quinta das Carvalhas, the jewel in Real Companhia Velha’s crown.

Customers will thus have the chance to get to know a historic property – the first written references to the Quinta date back to 1759 – of great beauty and spectacularity, with a predominant position on the slope of the left bank of the Douro River, distinguished in the ‘Best of Wine Tourism 2022’ awards, in the ‘Wine tourism services’ category.

‘In this new offer, tourists will be able to make the iconic visit with agronomist Álvaro Martinho, who knows the Quinta like the back of his hand, choose the famous ‘Ruína’ for an open-air wine tasting and discover the estate in a convertible minibus until they reach the top of the mountain, where lunch will await them in the incomparable Casa Redonda, from where it is possible to contemplate the ‘excess of nature’ perfectly described in the words of Miguel Torga,’ emphasizes Ana Clara Silva, Pipadouro’s operations director.

Casa Redonda, located at an altitude of around 550 meters, offers a majestic 360-degree panoramic view over the 500-hectare estate – 135 hectares of vineyards – and the incomparable Douro Valley. After lunch, where the flavours of the region will be harmonized with Real Companhia Velha wines, the afternoon will be spent on board Pipadouro’s classic yachts.

‘We can’t think of a better way to end a day discovering the Douro: sailing in serene waters aboard our Gentleman’s Vintage Boats and enjoying the tranquility, beauty and exclusivity of a trip that allows you to make an emotional connection with a region that is so unique, distinctive and full of history that it is a deserved UNESCO World Heritage Site,’ adds Ana Clara Silva.

The operator’s vintage fleet consists of the Friendship I, a 1957 superyacht built at the now-defunct E.F. Elkins shipyards in Christchurch, southern England, for the British Royal Navy, and the Pipadouro II, dating from 1965 and built at the João Brites shipyards in Lisbon using American Chris-Craft designs.