The Douro Valley is one of the most difficult wine terrains in Europe. But here, a group of young wine producers meet regularly in an enthusiastic outpouring of competition and exploration.

Unlike their colleagues in France or Italy, they bring bottles of their favourite wines from anywhere in world and experiment with new winemaking techniques amid a frenzied air of infectious creativity.

The group, with its academic background in winemaking, forms a new generation of well-known Portuguese winemaking families. This gang of friends produces the most sought after wines in Portugal, and the Spanish and Portuguese press have even given the visionary think-tank a name: the Douro Boys.

"For awhile it was very romantic, very idealistic. You could bring your wine along and everyone would say, yes your Touriga Nacional is great, but the Roriz is terrible.

"Everyone was open and honest and we shared everything," says José Carlos Oliveira of Quintodo Infantado, the first winery to break from the port houses stranglehold and bottle its own wine in 1979.

Similarly, Dirk van der Nierpoort, who heads the revered port house of Nierpoort, is not content to live in the shadow of his illustrious ancestors. His belief that strong, vibrant, world beating red and white wines could rise from Douro's great port vineyards is central to the group's vision.

Francisco Olazabal and Francisco Ferreira run the vineyards at Quinta do Vallado. Their Quinto do Vallado Reserva 1999 was the first Portuguese dry red wine to make it into the Wine Spectator's Top 100 wines, in Christmas 2002.

Since then, almost everyone in the group has produced a prizewinning wine or launched a dazzling still wine.

Also in the circle is Sandra Tavares da Silva and her husband, Nierpoort's former winemaker. Together they have made and released Pintas, a dazzling, expensive red wine.

Another member of the set is Tomaz Roquette, director and winemaker of Quinto do Crasto. This spectacular winery is among the highest in the Douro and is certainly regarded as one of the most exciting.

The Quinto do Crasto Reserva 1997 was a breakthrough Wine International Gold Medal winner, and its single vineyard reserve is among the most prized wines in Portugal. The group have achieved rockstar status in their home country, and an air of wilful self-expression is evident in each of their wineries.

Along with a shared a philosophical rejection of blandness and wanton use of international varietals, each of the wineries shares a common, ultra hip look. Wine labels and bottles are in minimalist black and white, the names of the wines pared down to nothing.

The transformation is taking place in vineyards that formerly would have been exclusively involved in the supply of grapes and latterly finished port wine, to the large port houses of the city at the mouth of Porto. Fleets of boats would travel up the Douro river from Porto to the mountainside vineyards.

There, rather like the men from Del Monte, the port houses would select the wine from the local farmers. They then took the wine away from each of the quintos, or wineries, and placed them under their own port house name.

The Douro Valley remains isolated and is one of the last truly unexplored tourist destinations in western Europe.

The roads are cliff edge experiences, train and boat being the favoured method of travel. It was inevitable that someone would see the amazing potential for world beating wines from each of the Douro's great vineyards.

The fruit in these vines has been the bedrock of beautiful vintage ports for 200 years. At lastwe are seeing the great wines underneath.

Next week, we will examine the best wines of the Douro within and beyond theDouro Boys group. Pintas, produced by Sandra da Tavares in Portugal, is a dazzling, expensive red wine.