June 18, 2007

Europe | Portugal | Douro Valley

The Grape Escape

By Nicole Cotroneo

And you thought wine was for drinking?

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Taking a swig from a Portuguese tap may be questionable, but there’s good news from the Douro Valley: the wine is still fine. Not that you’d have to worry at Aquapura — as its name reassuringly suggests. A restored 19th-century manor house, this new hotel and wine spa sits on the vertical banks of the “golden river” in the heart of port country. Fifty rooms afford vistas of the river or vineyards, while 21 secluded villas have private plunge pools. But there’s more than water running through the veins of this Small Luxury Hotel. Wine is not only served in Aquapura’s two restaurants, it’s also on the menu at the spa — the only one in Portugal offering vinotherapy (for now, anyway). Which means you can have finely-crushed grape extracts slathered all over your body — a treatment touted to slow the horrid hand of age. Once you’re one with the grapes, get out and explore the region they came from. The terraced vineyards of the Port Wine Route make a stunning sight from boat or helicopter. And a seven-minute drive gets you to the village of Peso da Régua, where stained-glass windows at the Casa do Douro — the winegrowers’ association — depict the history of Port wine production.