My name is Jorge Miguel Matias.

I live and work in the Douro Valley, where I have built my life around food, wine, hospitality, the landscape, and the simple pleasure of creating things that feel genuine.

I was born in Porto and graduated in Zootechnical Engineering from the University of Évora in 1991. My professional life began in the food industry and catering, including owning and running a restaurant.

After the economic crisis of 2011 forced me to close that chapter, I found a new direction in tourism. In 2014, I moved permanently to the Douro Valley, and what initially began as work gradually became a way of life.

Over the years, I have worked in different areas of tourism, wine and hospitality. Eventually, I realized that I was more interested in building and running my own small projects than in following the traditional path of tourism.

Today, my main business is Óporco, a small wine and tapas bar in Pinhão.

Alongside it, I have created Douro E-Bikes, an independent e-bike rental business that allows visitors to explore the Douro on their own. The operation is being developed to work as simply and autonomously as possible, giving people the freedom to discover the region without guides, fixed schedules or organized tours.

Marmelão

Marmelão, in Provesende, has a different place in my life now.

It started as a small family winery project and, for a time, I explored the idea of building something around pét-nat. In 2025, I made my first serious experiments with this style. It was an interesting experience, but it also showed me that pét-nat is a very small market and not something I want to turn into a business.

I still want to make wine at Marmelão.

I want to experiment with small quantities, work with the land, try different ideas and occasionally make wines that I find interesting. This year, for example, we are making a field blend of red and white grapes fermented together, traditionally known in Portugal as palhete.

But Marmelão is no longer a commercial project.

It is becoming a personal place — somewhere for my family and friends, a place to rest, work when I feel like it, make wine occasionally, and simply enjoy being in Provesende.

In 2022, I completed a degree in Oenology at UTAD in Vila Real, which gave me another perspective on the wine work I had already been doing.

Provesende and the Douro

Living in the Douro has changed the way I see work and time.

I am interested in the places themselves: the villages, vineyards, food, wine, people, roads and landscapes that make this region what it is.

This website is becoming a place where I can write about those things.

I will share some of what happens at Marmelão, thoughts about Provesende and the Douro, experiences from Óporco, and the development of Douro E-Bikes.

It is not intended to be a traditional business website.

It is increasingly a personal record of the place where I live, the things I work on, and the things that interest me.

Some things will become businesses.

Some will remain personal.

And some will simply be experiments, stories or ideas worth keeping.

For now, this is where I am: living in the Douro, running Óporco, building Douro E-Bikes, and keeping Marmelão as a place of my own.