Port Wine - who new?

Port Wine has not been part of the norm in our household. Why, not really sure. As we hiked the Douro River Valley and its Vineyards we learned about the area and its main products - tourism and Port Wine. Before the hike we mistakenly thought of Port as red wine, only to learn of its both white and tawny varieties. Tawny is red wine that as it ages in oak barrels turns brownish-amber.

Photography is enlightening in many ways. Putting aside it's art and science, photography introduces us to places, events and people opening the door to new learning experiences. From the tour planning package we knew the hike looped around the town of Alijo which was the furthest point up the valley. But the different perspectives of the landscape and the beauty of the area were hard to anticipate.

The above two photos unexpectedly are the same subject but aside from the obvious times of day are opposing views. The day light shot was taken Day #2 via an open air window on the train ride in from Porto to Pinhao. The sunset shot, was taken on the way to diner in Ragua, our last night before taking the boat cruise back down the river to Porto. The point of reference is the flat roof with 2 chimneys on the left in the daylight photo and the right at sunset.

But none of this was intentional. While in Portugal we had learned our sunset shot was a statue of the Sandeman logo, a caped man nicknamed "Don". Though Sandeman has been making Port Wine since about 1790, the status was created in the 1920's. The surprise came when doing post production at home we noticed the subject in the daylight shot looked familiar. A quick enlargement revealed the image was the statue. Without knowing it, we were shooting the same subject from the other side of the ridge.

What did photography teach us in Portugal? The trip introduced Portuguese cuisine, its friendly people, culture, growing tourism and Port Wine. We learned about perspectives, sharing experiences and being surprised. But like many things Port Wine is an acquired taste. I think it will be making an appearance for the holidays this year.

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