Located in northern Portugal and regulated in 1756 (the oldest in the world), the Demarcated Douro Region occupies a total area of 250.000 ha along the basin of the Douro river. The vine is the main crop with 45.000 ha divided by three sub-regions, separate from each other by socio-economic and climate factors: Baixo Corgo; Cima Corgo; Douro Superior.

Surrounded by mountains that protect from the moist winds of the Atlantic, the climate of the region is characterized by very cold winters and summers hot and dry. The soils are derived from schist, stony and little fertile, where the man had a decisive influence on its formation through the fragmentation of the rock.

Grown mainly on the slopes that follow the Douro river and its affluents, the vine can be: traditional, with balconies or terraces supported by walls of stone; mechanized, through horizontal levels (one or two lines of planting) or vertical vineyards, where the lines are planted in order of the greatest slope.

The Alto Douro Wine Region is without doubt unique, full of contrasts, but with an overwhelming beauty, the work of several generations recognized in 2001 by UNESCO as World Heritage.