Douro and Távora-Varosa

Located in the northeast of Portugal, in the Douro hydrographic basin, surrounded by mountains that give it particular mesological and climatic characteristics, the region extends over a total area of around 250,000 ha, being divided into three naturally distinct sub-regions, not only due to climatic and socio-economic factors.

These characteristics existing in the Douro region condition the economic use of natural resources and the activities carried out there.

In the past, it was only Alto Douro that the vineyard culture had great expansion, and at that time the name 'Alto Douro' was adopted by the authors to refer to the wine growing area that is today the Low and the Cima Corgo .

One of the original demarcation limits separated the Alto Douro from the Douro Superior, in the Cachão da Valeira area. This division was due to a geological accident (the granite monolith existing in the river that prevented navigation of the Douro River upstream of this obstacle). The difference between the two areas was visible, just look at the most notable development of vineyard culture in Alto Douro.

Later, with the removal of the granite block during the reign of D. Maria, vine cultivation spread eastwards, although it continued to represent a lesser importance in the Douro Superior than in the Alto Douro.

With the administrative reform of 1936, the Alto Douro region itself came to be called Baixo Corgo and Alto Corgo , this subdivision also serving to differentiate the wines produced in one or another sub-region.

The vineyard area assumes greater importance in Baixo Corgo, where it occupies around 29.9% of the area of this sub-region, which extends from Barqueiros on the North bank and Borrô on the South bank to the confluence of the Corgo and Ribeiro de Temilobos rivers with the Douro

The Cima Corgo extends upstream to Cachão da Valeira, with the area cultivated under vineyards being less important. The Douro Superior continues to the border with Spain.