Riverboat cruising has rapidly become the hottest new vacation experience, with exciting riverboat cruises taking place all over the world.

The locations are almost endless — wherever a scenic river exists you’ll find an opportunity to cruise in style aboard one of the new luxurious floating hotels. China, France, Germany, Egypt, South America, California, Oregon and, of course, the mighty Mississippi all have capitalized on this new way to vacation.

Those who have been on one of these luxury cruises have raved about the experience; the little unspoiled villages you get to visit along the way, the wonderful accommodations, the great food, the ambience. They say it’s better than the ocean cruises because you get to go inland to the small villages and often-overlooked countryside, since the big cruise-liners only dock at major ports.

And you don’t have to move from hotel to hotel every day like we did on the cross-country land tours we did for so many years. All in all, it’s the latest rage and the best of vacation schemes.
And now, with a brand-new riverboat cruiser, we have the opportunity to take a cruise up the Douro River in northern Portugal to experience the sights and magnificent wines of an area world-renowned for wine production but previously almost inaccessible to the regular traveler.

The Douro travels inland from the city of Oporto, winding through spectacular vistas among the hills and mountains into Spain. The hillsides are lined with steep-terraced vineyards, the villages charming with an 11th- century castle or two to visit along the way.

Every day it’s another adventure with many a gastronomic feast awaiting you in old abbeys or palaces. The other advantage many riverboat cruisers have commented on is that the side trips are all included in the initial cost; no add-ons as is prevalent in the usual ocean cruise itineraries.

One of the first groups to take advantage of this new riverboat cruise experience will be the Tasters Guild International. They have booked the Douro Queen for Oct. 16-26, 2008, and hope to fill all 63 staterooms (the capacity of the boat is only 126) for an once-in-a-lifetime experience. Naturally they expect to taste many of the fine Port wines this region has become famous for but also are looking forward to sampling the outstanding Douro table wines that are gaining recognition and awards.

The tour will include opportunities to visit some of these wineries and meet with the winemakers who produce these little-known but surprising new wines. We have written before about the exciting new wines being produced in Portugal and just beginning to find their way to the U.S. and this will give us the opportunity to taste and enjoy even more of them. This is the chance every wine lover dreams of — being one of the first to visit a new wine country before it gets commercialized; seeing it from the beginning.

It won’t be just wine tasting and sumptuous dinners — we’ll visit old monasteries, the historic university in Salamanca, exotic palaces and gardens and take in the glorious sites and scenes along this fascinating river region. The tour includes a two-day stay in Lisbon before motoring to Oporto. Lisbon is a very exciting city to visit, with a booming economy, great palaces and museums and wonderful restaurants. All meals are included in the seven-night cruise with grand views from the outside staterooms.

Now, for the best part — the Lapeer Tasters Guild has extended an invitation to all VIEW readers to join them on this exciting adventure. The Douro Queen has extended its special offer of reduced rates for bookings prior to Jan. 30 as a courtesy to our readers. The entire 10-day tour, including Lisbon and the riverboat cruise, has a starting price of only $2,943 per person if reservations are completed by the Jan. 30 deadline; after that the price goes up by $150 per person. The complete itinerary and other information are available on the Tasters Guild website: www.tastersguild.com or by contacting Cruise Holidays at 1-800-403-7936; ask for the Tasters Guild desk to reserve your stateroom.

In the meantime, visit your local wine retailer and look for the exciting new wines coming from Portugal, and particularly the Douro region. The red wines from this region are particularly impressive, made from a blend of indigenous grape varieties that include Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Franca; grape varieties virtually unknown anywhere else in the world.

One of those wines locally available is the Quinta do Côa Vinho Tinto Douro 2005. This wine is very rich with a blackberry aroma, soft tannins, and an elegant lingering fruitiness on the palate. It is a perfect wine for hearty red-meat dishes and perfectly complements a juicy grilled steak.

ines from the Douro are not plentiful, and many retailers may not have them in stock, but if you can find them you will discover what many wine lovers have known for years — the wines of Portugal are outstanding. Those who venture on the cruise with the Lapeer Tasters Guild will certainly come home with a greater appreciation of these fine wines.

Dave Ethridge is a nationally known wine writer, certified wine judge, and the Director of the Lapeer Chapter of Tasters Guild International.

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