Are you looking for a Douro Valley guide?
If you are looking for a Douro Valley guide I think you found him.
About me
My name is Jorge Miguel Matias.
I’m the owner of Jorge Miguel Matias – Wine & Tours, a small company established in Pinhão in the year 2016.
I’m originally from Porto but I moved to Douro in 2014 to work in a boat tour company.
My background is Zootechnical Engineering from University of Évora where I was formed in the year of 1991.
My professional carrear was made essentially in the food industry and catering.
My arrival in Douro
After closing my restaurant in 2011 crisis, I moved to Algarve to work as a skipper in a boat tour company. I liked so much that I moved to Douro in 2014 to do the same. I came to be near Porto, where my family is still living.
I really like Porto but to be honest I’m a small town man.
Opening my Company
In 2016 I decided to restart my entrepreneurial career, I bought a small boat and started taking tours with tourists on the river and by car.
I soon realized that my vocation would be to specialize in wine tourism, since I have very strong family connections to the wine industry in the Bairrada region. My wife was a partner in a wine company until 2020 and both her father and grandfather were wine producers.
O’Porco opening
In 2018 I decided to set up a small wine and tapas bar in Pinhão, which I called O’Porco, in a space that until then had served as a support for my tours.
Oenology Course
In 2019, aged 52, I decided to take the Oenology course at UTAD in Vila Real, a course that I should finish in mid 2022.
Change to a small old winery
In early 2020, before the start of the Covid pandemic, I sold my boat and moved to an old and very small winery in Vilarinho de São Romão, which I have partially restored with the boat money and where I’m living and where I intend to make my own wine.
Covid Pandemic
The pandemic seriously affected my life and my business. It had a positive side because it allowed me to focus on conducting the course, but on the other hand it was very negative because, it forced me to close my tours until the end of 2021 and partially the tapas bar.
We reopened O’Porco in March 2021 with many restrictions, after the year 2020 with intermittent openings and closings. It was an immense financial effort to keep my collaborators during all this time, especially with little help from the Portuguese state.
A new O’Porco in Provesende
But we didn’t give up and in May 2021 we opened a new O’Porco in the beautiful wine-growing village of Provesende.
Why you should choose me?
Certainly is not the luxury and comfort of my car, nor the formality and elegance of my services. This is exactly what I will not give you.
Otherwise if you are looking for something informal, specialized and genuinely local you reached the right place.
Then how are my services?
Exclusive
An exclusive service away from the crowds, for you, your family or friends;
Unhurried
Routes unhurried so you can enjoy your stay in the Douro Valley.
At the end of a busy day in Douro valley believe me that the last thing you will want is to leave;
Expert local guide
Tours with a specialized and truly local guide, someone who lives and works in the Douro. Someone who knows and participates in local community life and not someone who is only transporting tourists from Porto or Lisbon on a tour to the Douro valley.
My proposal to you
Here at Jorge Miguel Matias – Wine & Tours I propose to walk and guide my clients in a wonderful tour around the Douro Valley.
To do that with a peaceful mind, I think that I must warranty to my clients that they are travelling in a small group.
To me is the way to get some flexibility in the schedules, in the tours and also in the wine tasting.
Come with me to enjoy the wonderful world of Douro Valley.