Smaller/local port brands

I'm certainly no port expert, but I just spent the last few days in Porto and Pinhao. If you're looking for a truly Portuguese port, I think Ferreira has a good claim to that title, as they claim to be the oldest port wine producer continuously under Portuguese ownership. They have caves in Porto, offer tours, and have some pretty good product. However, the best port I sampled was from the Quinta de la Rosa in Pinhao. The Quinta is referenced in Rick's Portugal guidebook. It's a smaller, Portuguese owned producer that ages its ports on its own premises in the Douro Valley. The ride up to Pinhao is beautiful, although I wouldn't suggest it as a day trip. There are lots of small quintas between Regua and Pinhao though, and I'm sure you could find one that you suits your taste. At least you'd have fun looking!

Thank you for your reply, I'll look into this

Beg or borrow a copy of the Hugh Johnson "World Atlas of Wine". My first edition copy is decades old. My 1971 edition has two page on The Alto Douro with a map of the Quinta and vineyards. It's followed by two pages of The Port Lodges (shipper's warehouses) and a map of the 29 port loges of Vita Nova de Gala.

http://worldatlasofwine.com/

The first edition of The World Atlas of Wine made publishing history
when it appeared in 1971 and was hailed by the French Government as
‘Un événement majeur de la littérature viticole.’ To date, the Atlas
has been published in 16 languages and its total sales exceed 4.5
million copies. Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, the world’s most
authoritative wine-writing duo, have joined forces for a third time
and have created a seventh edition of this wine-literature
classic.Much has changed since the last edition of the Atlas in 2007.
Changes in climate, in winemaking techniques and in where wine is
grown, for example, are all reflected in this new edition.

The Atlas also charts major worldwide wine trends, such as the move
away from predictable international grapes towards possibly less
familiar, local varieties and to wine styles that are lighter, fresher
and more transparently the product of their geography. Wine that
expresses its precise location has once more come to the fore and an
Atlas that allows the reader to understand a region’s topography is
more necessary now than ever before.

Ferreira is now owned by Sogrape, Ferreira was one of the oldest Port producers and with portuguese owners, Sogrape is also a portuguese company.

Check also the oldest company, Real Companhia Velha, here's the link:

http://realcompanhiavelha.pt/pages/home

Neither of them can be considered small, but they may correspond to what you want. Both have visits to their vineyards (you can even have a harvest experience, but not in July).

You could visit Portologia on Rua de Sao Joao 28-30 on the Porto side of the river. It's close to the river as well.

They are independent and only feature smaller houses who do not have a presence in Vila Nova de Gaia across the river.

There are a multitude of potential ways to try port there and they explain how you can do different tastings - only tawnys, only LBV, vertical tastings of certain houses, introduction tastings to all the different types and on and on. Depending on what you want to taste, the price can be as little as 6 euro or many mulitples of that. The people are nice and they are knowledgeable.

I think this would give you what you want in Porto.

You could drive to the wineries, but it would be at least a day. I would recommend booking in advance.

I ended up going to Croft, which I really liked. I went there because I had not seen it here in North America and really enjoyed the visit and the port.