Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Portugal / Peso da Regua / The Vintage House - Douro
The Vintage House - Douro
Peso da Regua, Portugal · Independent · Accessible Luxury
Taylor's built this riverside lodge at Pinhao to store Port, then in 1998 turned it into the first proper luxury hotel in the Douro, which means every quinta that followed is working in its shadow. Taylor's sold it, watched it fade, bought it back in 2015 and spent two winter months putting it right. Forty-seven rooms and suites all face south over the water. Out the back door is Pinhao station, whose twenty-four tile panels from 1937 tell the entire story of Port across more than three thousand painted azulejos.
- 47 rooms
- Opened 1998
- Neighborhood: Pinhão
- Rooms from 377 sq ft (35 m²)
About The Vintage House - Douro
- When it opened in 1998 this was the first luxury hotel anywhere in the Douro Valley. Taylor's sold it four years later, then the Fladgate Partnership reacquired it in 2015.
- The building spent its working life as a Taylor's Port lodge and wine warehouse, and granite fireplaces from that era survive in the suites.
- The azulejo panels on Pinhao station behind the hotel were a gift from the Port Wine Institute, painted at the Aleluia factory in Aveiro from Casa Alvao photographs and installed in 1937.
- The Library Bar and shop pour more than a hundred different Ports, and the hotel runs a wine academy for guests who want to learn the region properly.
- Entry-level rooms start at 377 sq ft (35 m²).
History
The Vintage House began as a house and wine warehouse belonging to the Taylor's Port family, on the riverbank at Pinhao. In 1998 Taylor's converted it into the first quality hotel set among the finest Port vineyards, and for several years it was the only address of its kind in the valley. Taylor's sold the property four years later, and in 2013 it passed to ECS, the company behind the Fundo Recuperacao Turismo, after an economic restructuring.
The Fladgate Partnership, owner of Taylor's, Croft, Fonseca and Krohn as well as The Yeatman in Porto, bought it back in 2015 along with 14,000 square metres of adjoining land. Fladgate chief executive Adrian Bridge framed the purchase as a way for Yeatman guests to extend a stay upriver, and as part of a wider plan to make Pinhao the centre of Douro tourism. The hotel closed in January and February 2016 for refurbishment and reopened that March with five new suites. Every room faces south over the river and its terraces from a private balcony or terrace.
Today the five-star hotel holds thirty-six rooms and eleven suites. The Rabelo Restaurant, named for the flat-bottomed boats that once carried Port down to Vila Nova de Gaia, cooks regional dishes under chef Milton Ferreira, many of them using Port in the pan. The Library Bar keeps its old beamed ceiling, and the wine shop and wine academy between them offer more than a hundred Ports.
The setting
Pinhao is the village at the heart of the Cima Corgo, the Port country the Douro is famous for, and the railway reached it in 1880 and made it. The hotel backs directly onto the station, the most photographed building in the valley: twenty-four azulejo panels, installed in 1937 and made from more than three thousand tiles, cover almost every wall with scenes of the harvest, the treading of the grapes and the rabelo boats running the wine downriver. The station's restored panels won an SOS Azulejo conservation prize in 2013. Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta da Roeda are both within reach, and the historic steam train stops here in season.
Experiences
- Quinta da Roêda Harvest Party — Evening harvest celebration at Quinta da Roêda with regional cuisine by Chef Milton Ferreira, Douro and Port wines and a live DJ.
Amenities
- Parking included (subject to availability)
- Use of the tennis court included
- Wi-fi included
- Weddings organised with Events Department
- Meetings with audiovisual equipment and outdoor terraces
- Private dinners with buffet and barbecue menus
Open The Vintage House - Douro in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
More hotels in Peso da Regua
- Quinta do Pego — Independent · Accessible Luxury
- Quinta do Vallado — Independent · Accessible Luxury
- The Wine House Hotel, Quinta da Pacheca — Independent · Accessible Luxury
- Torel Quinta da Vacaria, Douro Valley — Torel · Accessible Luxury
- Quinta Dona Matilde — Independent · Near Luxury
- Quinta Vale de Lobos Douro — Independent · Near Luxury