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.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.