Wine tourism is changing Porto – but at least the drinks are world-class

Burgeoning visitor numbers are putting a strain on public services in the city and on the vineyards of the Douro. Luckily, the romance of the region is intact

For the wine lover, Porto offers one of the world’s most romantic views. Standing on the quay by the broad Douro river, with the majestic iron-latticework of the late 19th-century Dom Luís I bridge on your left, a scan of Villa Nova de Gaia on the opposite bank takes in some of the biggest names in the venerable fortified wine to which the city gave its name: Calém, Sandeman, Noval, Taylor’s, Graham’s, the words formed by enormous white letters on the terracotta-tiled roofs of their ageing cellars.

When I first came to Porto around the turn of the millennium, I probably wasn’t the only tourist spending my time filling rolls of film with minor variations of this endlessly absorbing view. But, as I wandered around the maze of atmospherically dilapidated streets, it sometimes felt that way. Fast forward 25 years to this summer and I was one of what felt like thousands of people jostling to find the right angle for a selfie before settling down in one of the many new, busy waterfront bars and restaurants.