Catarina is off dreaming up and making fresh episodes of A Portuguese Affair to help you fall in love with the country she calls home. But, not wanting to leave her listeners hanging, she’s sharing an episode of fellow Cerca show, Passport. What started with a simple prompt to the Passport team, “Let’s do an episode in Portugal,” soon became so much more. Enjoy!

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Portugal’s Douro Valley is one of the toughest places on the planet to grow wine. Steep, terraced hills, treacherous river rapids, and blistering hot summers are a sharp contrast to the rolling hills of Spain’s Rioja or the Cypress-lined country roads of Tuscany. And yet, the Douro is actually the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. And even though a vine plague in the 1800s nearly wiped out every vineyard in the region, the Douro survived.

That’s because the people here are famed for their resilience and ability to repeatedly outsmart nature, no matter what it throws at them. And that goes double for the women. In fact, it was one of the valley’s daughters that saved wine in the region. Who are these remarkable women? What makes the Douro Valley, and its world-class wine scene, so special?

And will the threat of climate change - and now Covid - finally be their undoing?

Passport’s Jennifer Carr invites you to open a bottle and discover a place for wine lovers, warriors, and the women who are changing the face of winemaking - one glass at a time.

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Planning a trip to Portugal? Get authentic, on-the-ground advice from our network of local experts.  Cerca’s Concierge is open and free for a limited time in Lisbon and Porto!

For this episode’s full show notes, download the free CERCA app, available for iOS.  Get maps, photos, and info on the places mentioned.  Plus, ad-free listening, bonus content, and early access to other episodes in this guide.

Want more? Visit CercaTravel.com for more news on where Cerca is going and to sign up for special access to new features. 

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