Gouvinhas

A few hundred people live among the terraces of Gouvinhas, a parish of Sabrosa on the high ground above the Douro, but the land around it belongs to one of the great stories of wine: this is the demarcated region laid out in 1756 under the Marquês de Pombal, the oldest of its kind in the world, and the parish keeps its own stone proof of it.

The stones of the feitoria

To mark which vineyards could make the exported feitoria wines, the demarcation of the Douro was drawn with granite pillars, and a classified marker stands in Gouvinhas among the eight old granite stones counted as the parish’s heritage. The demarcated vineyard country continues across the slopes of Sabrosa’s other wine villages, and the Douro Valley opens out a short drive away, where the river itself carries boats past the quintas of the Pinhão shore.

Wine estates and quiet lanes

The parish church of Santa Maria Madalena anchors the village, with small chapels scattered through the surrounding places, and quintas in the parish open their doors to visitors for tastings of Douro wines. The Douro railway line runs through the parish, and its little station makes a convenient stop for walkers and tasters arriving by train. The seat of the municipality, with the house where Fernão de Magalhães is traditionally said to have been born, is kept at Sabrosa.

What to see

• The classified granite marker of the old demarcation
• The parish church of Santa Maria Madalena
• The quintas and their wine tastings
• The small station of the Douro railway line
• The terraced vineyards of the surrounding hills

Practical information

Gouvinhas lies in the municipality of Sabrosa, in the Vila Real district, on the plateau above the Douro. The roads are narrow between the vineyards: take care when driving, wear good shoes for the terraces, and check the official websites before setting out.

Image credit: Douro-Tal-64-Bahnhof Gouvinhas-2011-gje by Gerd Eichmann — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.