Text José Silva

In a city like Oporto, that in the last years has been observing an enormous growth in the tourist’s flow from all over the world, most of all because of its ancient part of town, which is a world heritage site and, on the other side of the river Douro, the port wine cellars, many commercial stores are opening, mainly around the historical zone and down town.

Tourists come to visit the city and admire its history and monuments, taste the excellency of the food and visit the Port wine cellars, but they also find there is a great variety of places to drink a glass of wine, enjoy some titbit and gather many informations about the city, through the traditional kindness of the Portuguese people.

There are A lot of restaurants and titbit houses, a lot of stores selling gastronomic products and wines, all around. A new store has recently opened, this time a project launched by a wine distribution firm, Vinoteca.

They chose Mouzinho da Silveira street, that connects down town to the riverside and which is a passageway for many people, between Portuguese and foreigners.

It is a very wide place, the result of the recovery of an old building, which has its main entrance on the quoted street, but has got another entrance on the back, on S. João street.

Wine is the main product there, of course, exposed everywhere, in all levels of the huge store. On the main entrance there is a first room, with some wood casks transformed into tables and stools and many wines and other products on the shelves. Some steps up and we get to another room, larger, with a big balcony on the right, very well equipped for a bar and titbit service.

In a black wall you can see the offer of wine by the glass and titbits to match: lupines and olives, a variety of canned fish, smoked ham, smoked sausage and rocket sausage, board of smoked sausages and cheese, small rocket sausage rolls, small pork filet rolls and small suckling pig rolls, among other delicacies. On the other side of the room, besides the shells with wine, there is a long table where you can relax in the company of wine and titbits.

We climb some more steps and we arrive at another room, this one smaller, with some tables and chairs and a nice fireplace, recommended for small groups tastings, some training or just to taste the variety of wines in this place where the wine cult is everywhere. Even in some funny sentences, for example: “You cannot buy happiness. But you can buy wine. It is almost the same thing!”

There is always wine on sale and there are a lot of wines to taste, with the presence of the producers, presenting new wines and new harvests in this beautiful place. There you can also find a lot of tools and supplements for the wine service, like brand glasses, decanters, drop-stops, corkscrews and so on.

Down some larger steps, to the back, we have access to a wide room, that leads to the back entrance on S. João street. It is an exclusive space of Niepoort, the result of an agreement between the two firms, where we may find – and buy!- the whole range of this well known and brave wine brand, between Niepoort still wines (table wines) and other brands they distribute and, of course, the enormous variety of Niepoort Port wine.

This store brings some difference as much in the space as in the concept of a liquor store, as it is also a leisure space where wine is the predominant theme and is everywhere: you can taste it, enjoy it and, at the end, you can buy it and take it home.

As in the poet Fernando Pessoa´s words, in one of the store panels: “Life is good, but is better with wine!”

Contacts
Vinoteca – Bar Garrafeira
Rua Mouzinho da Silveira, 88
4150-415 Porto
Tel: (+351) 222 034 082
E-mail: copoealma@vinoteca.pt
Website: www.vinoteca.pt