The Douro region is located in the Northeast of Portugal, surrounded by the mountains of Marão and Montemuro. The wine-growing area occupies about 40,000 hectares, although the region extends for about 250,000 hectares. The Douro River and its affluents, such as Tua and Corgo, run in deep valleys and most of the plantations are embedded in the river basins.

Douro soil is essentially composed of shale, although in some areas there are granitic soils. These soils are particularly difficult to work with and the difficulty in the Douro is compounded by the steep slope of the terrain. On the other hand, these soils are beneficial for the longevity of the vines and allow more concentrated musts of sugar and color.
The distribution of the vineyard area is not uniform. In Baixo Corgo, the vineyard area occupies about 14000 hectares and the number of producers is almost 16000, that is, on average each producer owns less than one hectare of vineyard. The Douro Superior is a more desert region and the number of producers is less than the number of hectares of vines (almost 9000 hectares for just over 7900 producers).