Wine Country

October 30. Wine Country! Nuno was our guide for the day that included two wineries, both excellent and both very different. Our first stop of the day was Quinta da Lagoalva, just out of Santarem. Now we've been wine tasting before, but this was a different experience.

Marcia Alegria, new to the Quinta da Lagoalva, but with her masters in winemaking, was our guide. Although wine has been produced here since the 15th century, the current owners, the Palmela family, acquired the "quinta" in 1846. With over 100 workers, it was more like a small town, but currently they are down to 30 employees. There was and is housing for everyone, and the Palmela family still resided on site. There is a charming little chapel, filled with blue and white tiles, but there is no longer a priest living on the quinta, so now it is just used for special celebrations.

There is also a delightful pergola in the courtyard covered with foliage, but not currently in bloom. The next stop was the stables with 16 Lusitano horses, a specialty of Portugal, bred and trained for dressage. BIG, beautiful horses, with the preferred color of grey. Our next adventure was a carriage ride to visit the olive groves (13 tons last year), the cattle, sheep, the cork trees (some that had just been harvested) and of course the vineyards! All of these enterprises are profitable for Lagoalva. During the tour of the winery Marcia explained the process of moving the grapes to the first stage where all the stems are removed, then the remaining grapes and skin mixture is moved over to huge metal vats to ferment. Since the skins and sediment rise to the top, but to get the red color the juice must be in contact with the skins, they recycle the juice by pumping it out the bottom and back onto the top to maximize the time juice is in contact with the skins approximately every 12 hours. The exceptions are the "Reserve" or "Premium" wines - the whole process is manual and the finished product is stored in casks (American Oak). Finally to the tasting! Accompanied by bread, cheese, olive oil and sausage we are given three wines, from light to dark... Talhao I, a white Sauvignon Blanc blend, a Rose, and finishing with a red Castelao e Touriga.  All very good, and all around $8 a bottle! Quinta da Lagoalva wines are distributed in the US by Winebow Inc. BUT, there was one premium wine, they do not bottle each year, as it must be an exceptional year, nor do they export it; Dona Isabel Juliana, named for the last owner that passed away just 2 months ago. I'm enjoying a glass while writing! Excellent!    

Lunch was a small typical little place for some Portuguese comfort food. Stone Soup! Filled with beans, pork, beef, tomatoes, and a stone! The legend tells of a man that went around knocking on doors telling each resident that he had the stone for the soup, could they please contribute, perhaps a tomato, or some beans... what ever they might have, until the end of the day he had all he needed to make a hearty, delicious soup!

Our second winery, was again a "quinta", Casal Branco. Duarte Carvalho e Silva, their export manager was most kind to host us through the tour. This appears a bigger operation than Lagoalva, and with just as many "interests". We first drove out to the Lusitano stable where we met and watched the second place winner in the Portuguese dressage competition, X (translation from Portuguese!) go through his dressage routine. Although I no longer ride, X was an impressive stallion, that moves beautifully. We headed back to the winery and took the tour. Casal Branco still has vats where the grapes are stomped, a la Lucille Ball, for the premium wines. We found out that the stompers are paid about $60 a day, but it's getting more difficult to find workers willing to take part time work... particularly those of the ideal height and weight! The three wines we tasted are imported to the US, a white, rose and red. The name Terra de Lobos is a hint into the name of the the family that has owned the estate since 1775, the Lobo de Vasconcelos.       

Back to the main showroom, there is a "tree" that is actually one piece of harvested cork with a single seam along the back. Very impressive and beautiful! There was one wine, their sparkling wine Monge, that is not exported... so I have a bottle to enjoy on the trip! Thank you Duarte!

It was a fantastic day, full day, and tiring day... all that wine drinking did us in! Back to Britania and again a light supper but back to the Rubro restaurant for some of their Foie Gras and a salad...

Life is good!