Portugal

There's a curious fragrance wafting up the Douro valley in Portugal's north east. Being renowned for producing mind-bending ports for nigh on a century, you'd expect that aroma to be fortifying spirit or fermenting port; perhaps, at a stretch, a wedge of stilton as you call to mind your last wondrous port and cheese evening. However, the smell is a more international one; it came to town about ten years ago and is here to stay. It is the combination of money, industry and passion, an air of pioneering innovation as one of the world's most renowned pieces of terroir reflects what is happening across the nation: a wine renaissance. 'Portugal is a jewel house of ancient vine varieties,' says
Oz Clarke, and the pioneering winemakers and viticulturists are beginning to mine some of that potential.