We have an appointment for lunch and wine tasting at Quinta do Crasto for 12:30 this afternoon. We will need to leave early to ensure we arrive in time. Keeping our fingers crossed our GPS unit is working. We have written backup directions as well.
Why are we staying in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal? For one thing this is the very first regulated wine region in the world. When you think of Portugal wines you probably think of Port. The grapes used to produce the fortified wine known as Port are produced in the Douro Valley. The valley's climate, terroir and other factors combine to produce excellent wine varietals. In addition to port, the Douro Valley wineries produce excellent white and red wines. Plus, when I have seen pictures of this valley they are spectacular. The Douro River runs through the valley and in the olden days the boats took their precious grape/wine cargo to the city of Porto to produce port wine. Lana and I enjoy wine so this is a great destination to indulge our hobby and buy some excellent Portugese wines. I think that pretty much covers it? ;-)
We are staying at Quinta do Vallado as the reviews have been very good. We decided to stay for three nights in wine country at an actual producing winery that has highly rated accommodations. While it was a long drive, it will be worth the effort and costs. As part of our package, we get a private (guests only) wine tour/tasting during our stay beginning at 17:00 on whatever night we choose.
The winery and accommodations are nestled against a hill within one of their vineyards. We have listed the many amenities within the grounds. We are staying in the very modern side (8 rooms) and the older accommodations have four rooms so not a lot of guests. The hotel winery staff speak very good english and are very helpful.
The GPS unit accepted our destination so that gives us hope that we will actually find the winery with no difficulty. Hmmmm, famous last words! We gave ourselves lots of cushion in terms of time to get to Quinta do Crasto and our appointment for 12:30. We arrived around 12:15 so that was good. The bad part was about 1 km before the winery the GPS proudly announced we had "arrived" at the destination. Sadly, we were in the middle of a very twisty road with no buildings in sight. Yikes! We continued on the road and within around five minutes arrived at Quinta do Crasto. Yeh!!!
Quite the drive to this winery east on the Douro River. It is an incredibly winding and narrow road with very steep inclines and drops. In many places, only room for 1 1/2 cars. It took us about one hour going around 30 km/hour. Yes, I was driving believe it or not which just shows how scary it was. Lana said is was like being on a PNE ride where you needed an air-sickness bag just in case!! Many olive trees, vineyards in extremely steep terraces, mostly ripe red grapes and the anxiety of not wanting to meet up with another vehicle.
Like most of Portugal, the houses and apartments are painted white with red tiled roofs. It was overcast and then hot and sunny. Very quiet driving there and very few cars we encountered which was good.
When we found the signage for Quinta do Crasto we were relieved and happy to arrive. The reception area is at the very top of the hill. We parked and then walked up and were greeted very quickly. We are asked to sit in the living room, drink some fresh cold water and advised where the bathrooms were located. Racquel will be our host. Her command of the english language is pretty good.
We had booked a wine tour and then lunch paired with their wines. Racquel really knew her stuff despite the fact she had only been with this winery for four months. The Douro Valley is comprised of three appellations. Each appellation has a different climate and will pick its grapes at different times. 1994 was the first year this winery actually bottled its own red wine for sales. Prior to that like the majority of wine growers the grapes were shipped down the Douro River to Porto to make port wine.
Another reason is that until temperature controlled vessels/buildings were possible it was too hot to store wine. They began their harvest last week and it will continue for a while longer. They ship the vast majority of their wine to a warehouse they own in a separate town on the Douro. Given they ship 75% of their wine production to 41 different countries it is a complicated system of distribution and wine labelling.
They make port at their winery rather than in Porto. This involves four consecutive days of grape stomping by feet. Then they blend this wine juice with brandy (25%) to make the fortified wine called port. They select the sweetest red grapes to go in the port as this fortified wine is preferred sweeter.
Douro valley. Good to keep this in mind when purchasing Portugese Douro wines. They confirmed that in the making of their white wines (10% white, 10% port and 80% red wines) they do not want to break the seeds. They employ between 70 and 140 people during the year and depending on the season. The warehouse they have on site is kept at 16 degrees Celsius. All this is information that I decided to write down. Very interesting and we got to see grapes crushed as picking has started.
Douro Valley steep terraces.
More terraces. These hills are incredibly steep!
More terraces.
Wine, wine and more wine.
What a steep drop for these terraces. Picking by hand must be incredibly difficult.
We are at the very start of wine production when the truck pulls up with grapes just picked. The poor grapes are discarded immediately and then the remainder go into this machine and create the grape juice before fermentation.
Port wine making is a complicated process, but these are the lagares (thigh deep granite stomping tanks) at the winery where humans stomp the port grapes for four consecutive days. Eight to twelve people stomp in each tank but they must do it in a certain pattern--first left to right, then up to down. This must be done in unison to ensure even pressing of the grapes.
Steel fermentation tanks.
Refrigeration unit very cold to the touch--temperature controlled. This is where the fermentation process takes place; sugar turns into alcohol.
Wooden barrels used in this winery are French and American oak and only used for two seasons and then discarded to other wineries.
These barrels need to be turned on a regular basis. Very labour intensive process when stacked so they have some stored on these new racks which allows for easier rotation of each barrel.
Every steel tank is numbered and as you can see this is a barrel of red (tinto) wine from last year's vintage.
This is a wine press used to get every last drop of wine juice that can be squeezed out.
Mash or leftover skins and stems.
The infinity pool up above the winery. What an incredible setting for pool goers as it is nestled beside their vineyard overlooking the river below. Too bad we forgot to bring our bathing suits.
The Douro River below and what we were looking at while enjoying our fantastic lunch and wine pairings.
Yes, its a tough life and the sun was causing us to squint. We are both wearing white! We never coordinate our clothes.
One of our first dishes being Al Heira (Portugese sausage) and it was brilliant.
Appetizers of olives and almonds from their property. The meats were traditional Portugese cold cuts; smoked porkloin and a type of proscuitto. The almonds were tasty and so fresh!
Two different kinds of extra virgin olive oil to serve with the bread. The one on the left is from their property.
Soup was zucchini.
There were five wine glasses for each of us on the table. Each dish was paired with one of their wines.
Grilled octopus and potatoes and a simple salad of tomatoes and cucumbers. The grilled octopus was the best octopus I have ever eaten and that says a lot! Tender, juicy, meaty, crispy on the outside from the roasting. Wow!
Part of our dessert of creme brulee and figs. The creme brulee was exquisite as it was more of a pudding presentation.
The other part of our dessert were two types of cheeses and quince paste. I was too enthralled with the Creme Brulee to eat this, but Lana dug in. The dessert was paired with a port wine produced on site by the winery. It was so delicious that we bought a bottle.
The lineup of five (5) wines we enjoyed with our lunch. We purchased the white wine, their best red wine (comprised of 49 varieties of red grapes from very old vines and placed in American and French oak for 18 months). The average age of each wine vine was 70 years! The wine was decanted for 30 minutes before serving. The red colour was darker than the first two red wine. It was a Quinta do Crasto Douro 2012 Reserva (Vinhas Velhas - Old Vines).
We agreed that we couldn't have picked a better location or setting to eat a fantastic lunch. The weather was warm, but not hot. We could gaze over the Douro Valley and the Douro River below. Look at the steep slopes of wine vines and the other Quintas in the distance. Interesting that the music playing in the background was Diana Krall jazz. Diana Krall is from Nanaimo, BC so another British Columbian. Apparently, one of the owners of the winery loves her singing.
Overall a fantastic experience inclusive of the lunch and the wine tour and the ambience and the views and the wine and ...... ;-)
As the Fall approaches the wine vines leaves will turn red, orange, yellow etc. All the colours of our Autumn.
Before we left a group of five Indian young women showed up in a taxi. Four of them were brides to be and the fifth had a boyfriend but not engaged yet but had some to Portugal for a bachelorette weekend. They had all met in London at university but now live in Jakarta, Antwerp, Mumbai, London and Hong Kong. What a great place to enjoy themselves. We went to the wine shop with Racquel and purchased five bottles of wine. Regrettably, they did not have the extra virgin olive oil in stock for Lana to buy.
Lana drove our car home as I had too much to drink at lunch. It was a good drive home, although needed to stop a few times and pull over for traffic coming in the opposite direction.
Super steep slopes and schist rock formations which provide the ground formation of the vines in the Douro Valley.
We decided to head for the infinity pool so I could do some swimming and Lana could relax in a lounge chair in the grass and read her free iBook on her iPhone. Pretty awesome setting!
Grapes hanging from a trellis near the pool.
We had arranged for the three course dinner and our start time was 19:30. You have to alert the front desk by 17:00. Two fantastic meals in one day with wine pairings included. Is this heaven or what? It is such a beautiful night. Still warm, but not hot and a perfect evening to be eating outside and taking in the views.
One of our appetizer dishes was the local Portugese sausage dish combined with apple. You are supposed to eat this black sausage with the apple and it is a great combo. Lana wasn't keen based on the fact the sausage is black. The appies were paired with a very nice Rosé from the winery.
The 35Euro dinner was excellent and a great deal when you consider the amount of wine and variety of wine that was paired. We were enjoying everything and the setting for a full two hours. There were about eight other tables outside with other guests of the winery/hotel. Service was perfect and they would pour as much wine as you wanted. For the desserts, they paired an excellent 20 year old Tawny Port. In addition, we requested a pour of the white port wine we enjoyed on arrival yesterday that they do not sell. I think we were the only couple to ask for this. This white port is so good!
In terms of walking today we only put in 3 kms. A low day of energy burn, but a high day of calorie intake. Overall, it has been a fantastic day. Wine tour, great scenery, fantastic lunch with perfect pairings and then an excellent wine-paired dinner to end our day.
* Mañana time * I think most North Americans equate this term with a culture where nothing occurs on time or promptly. This would describe our experience to date in Portugal. Nothing starts on time and there is no real urgency. A great way to holiday. :-)
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