Winter fall over Douro Valley
The weather here in the heart of Douro is changing from heavy clouds to some episodes of rain. Winter fall over Douro Valley.
The freezing Douro winter
The most constant right now are the low temperatures. I didn’t felt it so inside my bones since my adolescence.
When I complain to local people about this they always say the same:
“Now is nothing. When I was a young boy the water in the pipes and in the river Pinhão was freezing almost all winters.”
I believe, but for my standards the cold that I’m feeling is absolutely devastating.
Isolation problems
My house in Pinhão is not a model of isolation. The stone walls don’t absorb enough warm during the day to stay hot during the long freezing nights.
Yesterday, in the end of day when I arrive at home I opened my fridge. I always do this. The fridge was almost empty but there was a bottle of Douro DOC white wine that escaped from the hot summer.
For a brief moment I thought that the equipment was broken because, when I touch the bottle the glass was warmer than the air.
Pinhão winter temperature
In fact the average temperature in the coldest month, January, is 8,2ºC. The minimum is between 0ºC and 5ºC. Probably for you this are not cold temperatures. The isolation problems that we face in the majority of the houses, offices and stores, gives us the sensation that the temperature is worst that it really is.Winter work in Douro Valley
In the vineyards is time to prune. Early in the morning and until the end of day men and women’s cut the vines, preparing the vineyard for another year.
I’m starting to learn how is made the quality of the wines here in Douro Valley.
Lot’s of effort in a close association with a climate that don’t give any truce.
