Category Archives: Douro Insider

Hopes were raised on the first day of the month that this year’s hideous climatic patterns might finally be changing for the better (i.e. worse) when we enjoyed the very lightest speckling of drizzle during the afternoon, but it was … Continue reading →

What actually happened in February is very easy to describe.  Why it occurred, and what the consequences will be, is very much more complicated.  So what did happen then? Basically, nothing.  There was no wind.  There were no clouds.  There … Continue reading →

With the exception of a moderately moist first day of the month, which very few people can remember anyway so it doesn’t really count, the New Year got off to an extremely dry start.  December’s fog still persisted in the … Continue reading →

The first two or three days of the month suggested that it was going to be basically cold, grey and wet, rather predictably.  But the rain immediately dried up and on balance December turned out just to be cold and … Continue reading →

After yet another dry month in October (and apparently also the warmest October since 1931 at a national level), it was pleasing to see that the roads in the Douro were running like rivers on the 2nd of November.  The … Continue reading →

After a bit of a non-summer came an extraordinary autumn, bringing weather that the gods of grapes wouldn’t have dared to dream about.  With just enough rain falling on the first of the month to refresh the vines and put … Continue reading →

Unlike some months so far this year, August was by no means atypical; on the contrary, both the temperatures and the total precipitation were very close to average.  This makes it much harder to explain the extraordinary maturation of the … Continue reading →