That time finally arrived back in early October when I took off from Philadelphia International Airport on a direct flight to Lisbon for a 12-day self-guided tour of Portugal. Needless to say, it was a long time coming and not a moment too soon. As a wine blogger and instructor, I took the trouble to document virtually every wine I sampled during the trip and am now pleased to offer you highlights of my enological adventure. Fortunately, many, but not all, the wines I tasted are available in the US, though some may be a little hard to find. The best source is Lisbon Wine and Liquors in Newark, New Jersey, which I profiled earlier in this blog (January 17, 2014).
This "EA" red wine from the Alentejo region, a welcome gift from the owner of the apartment I rented in the historic bairro of Alfama in Lisbon, is produced by the Cartuxa Winery. It's a robust, hearty wine made from traditional and indigenous Portuguese grapes such as Aragonez (Tempranillo), Trincadeira, Alicante Bouschet, and Castelão. A great accompaniment to the flank steak I sautéed up one evening for a homemade Portuguese dinner!
http://www.cartuxa.pt/en/base/3/20
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This next wine, BSE, produced by José Maria da Fonseca, is a white (branco) from the Peninsula de Setúbal, a region just south of Lisbon. Three native varietals are combined in this wine - Antão Vaz, Arinto and Fernão Pires - to create a delightful, crisp and fruity wine that was a wonderful pairing with the absolutely delicious grilled dourado we enjoyed at a restaurant called "Churrasco da Graça" located on the edge of the Alfama district towards the city center.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189158-d1749874-Reviews-Churrasco_da_Graca-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html
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Pretty much every traditional Portuguese restaurant menu is divided up simply between fish (peixe) and meat (carne), the fish of choice being cod (bacalhau) and the dominant meat being pork (carne de porco). As much as I enjoy Portuguese reds, I would be just as happy to partake of whites which are such perfect accompaniments to freshly grilled fish (other than cod) and seafood. And so, here we have another lovely white we sampled at a Belgian style mussels and oyster restaurant called "Oui" in the Bairro Alto district of Lisbon:
https://www.facebook.com/restauranteouilisboa
Quinta do Vallado, which is one of the most renowned winemakers in Portugal and is owned by the same family going back six generations, makes this white from the Douro region from indigenous varietals, including Arinto, Codega, Gouveio, Rabigato and Viosinho. ("Quinta"which actually means "farm" in Portuguese is the equivalent of "Château" in French when referring to wineries. In the Alentejo region, wineries are generally referred to as "Adegas".) Check out this Quinta's website which is available in English and gives detailed descriptions of their wines, ports and properties.
http://www.quintadovallado.com/?idioma=en
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In Coimbra, Portugal's renowned university town - its founding goes back to the 1200's - I stayed at a lovely B & B run by a Dutch woman who was very accommodating and full of useful information and recommendations about what to do and see in this World Heritage town.
( https://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/casa-pombal.html?from_pretrip=1&et=UmFuZG9tSVYkc2RlIyh9YQW1IK9LK81sotezAQhDYguuVytATqYBh3MweD0KNhX6/vkJ1liQC+N6ejvwIsSeLIZMV+w7BKgdYc5FTen7+j6q62yc/HrNv7rKlMonjj2htTFffeSfmCyGSZaumUHuriS5I0DGhzO4JT3UI8344sPAmpv1j7/7QXarF+rC/mel )
Among the restaurants she recommended was a modest looking establishment called "Restaurante Giro Churrasqueira" tucked away along a meandering alley in the commercial part of town below the ramparts enveloping the historic quarter.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189143-d3577868-Reviews-Restaurante_Giro_Churrasqueira-Coimbra_Coimbra_District_Central_Portugal.html
On a first pass, it didn't strike me as anything special - a large dining area with fluorescent lighting sectioned off from the large open-air grill that you squeeze by to enter the actual restaurant. After wandering around a bit and checking out other possible dining venues, I came back to the recommended restaurant and decided to give it a try. It was early evening, so there were not too many patrons yet, just a large group of young American college students in the outside terrace and a few older couples in the brightly lit inside dining area. My entrance was not terribly auspicious: it took a while before an employee chatting away near the grill realized I was a potential customer; the decor was nothing much to speak of; and the server, a petite middle-aged woman of small stature with a slight limp who'd obviously had had a hard life, was a bit brusque and dispensed with any formal niceties. After scanning the menu, I opted for the grilled half-chicken platter and a bottle of red Alentjo wine, thus launching the most ridiculously inexpensive feast in all my time in Portugal.
Most traditional Portuguese restaurants include bread, cheese and little tins of salmon or sardines in their table settings. There is a small cover charge for these items, but they're definitely worth indulging in while waiting for the main course. I proceeded to dig in in anticipation of the grilled chicken while sampling the wine, a basic red blend from Alentejo that was nothing special but at 4 euros (!) a bottle, it was the best deal I've ever come across in regular sit-down restaurant anywhere in the world. To sum up, here's what my feast consisted of:
- bread, cheese, salmon/sardine pâté
- freshly grilled half-chicken w/ salad and French fries
- full bottle of Alentejo red wine
- large serving of delicious chocolate mouse
- cappuccino
And the grand total, including tax and service ...... <15 euros!!! (about $16)
Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture of the food spread, but you can check out some pictures from Trip Advisor at the link above. Here's a picture of the bottle of wine that I tried my best to polish off, but didn't quite finish:
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The following wine was a welcoming gift at the apartment I rented in the World Heritage town of Evora, about 90 minutes by train east of Lisbon. Jorge (pronounced "ZHORZH") was the most gracious and helpful host, taking his time once I arrived to show me on a map all the interesting things to see in and around the town, and fixing me up with one of his bicycles so I could ride out to the famous megaliths some 5-10 miles outside of town. This red blend from the Adega Cooperativa Vidigueira is another typical robust Alentejo wine best enjoyed with the local cuisine.
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While up in Porto, the second largest city in Portugal and also a popular tourist destination a few hours by train north of Lisbon, I took an organized small group wine tour out the the Douro Valley which is one of the most most beautiful, captivating, dramatic, romantic and enchanting wine regions in the world. Although it's best known as the source of Port wine grapes, its reputation as a top producer of table wines has grown remarkably over the last few decades and represents perhaps the best deal for high quality and highly ranked wines at affordable prices. On our tour through the winding, narrow and hilly roads of the Douro, we visited a couple of relatively small, family-owned and operated wineries: one that produced table wines and olive oil; the other, primarily Port wine. I also had the opportunity to do a quick visit to one of the most prestigious producers in the Douro Valley - Symington -, and partake in a personalized tasting of three of their cuvées (more on that in later post).
The wines of the "Velha Geração" (Old Generation) are produced by a small family estate which looks over the Douro River with sweeping views of the vine-lade hills. The Grande Reserva is produced from the 3 main Portugal varietals - Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz -, which are foot-trodden in traditional wine presses, and aged for 18 months in French and American oak barrels. It is a hearty, robust and complex wine that exudes full aromas of dark berry fruit giving way to sturdy but smooth tannins and bracing acidity on the palate.
After an abundant midday repast replete with pork, fish (cod), salad, fried potatoes, bread, fruit, and dessert, all washed down with endless carafes of red and white wine, we piled into our van and headed to our next destination - Quinta Santa Eufêmia, another independent, family-run winery that produces primarily port wines. We were given a very in-depth, personalized tour by one of two sisters who own and manage the operations, followed by a tasting, of course.
To briefly summarize the production and attributes of this fortified wine (typically 16 - 20% alcohol), we can say that the name is derived from the name of the city which is the center of the Port trade, and that there are a basically three types of Port:
1. Ruby Port: a blend that is aged 2 - 3 years, bottled young, and ready for immediate consumption while still ruby in color, and typically sweet, fresh and fruity
2. Tawny Port: also a blend, aged in wood for anywhere from 5 - 50 years until it acquires an amber-orange hue. It's drier than the Ruby and has nutty flavor. It also comes in "branco" or white version.
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| Actually, an airline-sized bottle I purchased at a gift shop in Lisbon. |
3. Vintage Port: a blend of the highest quality wines from a single year or vintage. Aged for two years in wood, it's the most expensive and sought-after of its wines. Vintages are declared on average every 3 or 4 years out of each decade. It ranks among the greatest dessert wines, its smooth, mellow richness exuding a heady, intoxicating perfume. Wine Spectator selected the 2011 Dow Vintage Port as the number one wine in 2014.
http://2015.top100.winespectator.com/lists/
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So there you have it - a brief gastronomic and enophilic tour of Portugal which I hope whets your appetite for the food and wine of this one-time imperial state that for a couple hundred years ruled half the world and left a legacy that is alive and well. If you can't make it to the country itself, you can still enjoy its fruit of the vine and cuisine by shopping at your local wine shop or taking a road trip up to Newark, New Jersey to visit the Ironbound neighborhood (again, see my post of January 17, 2014).
Saúde!
