We discover very quickly that this area south of Évora is rolling small hills and flatness just like our Prairies! Plus, lots of grain and hay being grown. Very dry country. Lots of road construction so our arrival time is later than estimated, but we gave ourselves a good cushion. An interesting difference is there are NO flag persons. They either use transit police or temporary lights that are green or red. We arrive at the winery with five minutes to spare.
One very interesting sight was a group of Gypsies riding in horse drawn carriages going the opposite way.
We chose this specific Alentejo winery as it was highly recommended in the NY Times travel article that piqued my interest on this region as a destination. We made an appointment today for a wine tour/tasting for 11:00 and then lunch at 12:30. Pretty excited.
Herdade dos Grous
My notes from our winery tour with Bernardo:
- total parcel of land of 730 hectares and about 80 hectares are for wine grapes
- owned by a German company
- grapes first planted in 2000 and first harvest was 2004
- their best years for wine quality were 2011 and 2009 - he expects 2015 to be a banner year
- 70 people employed
- produce around 500,000 bottles yearly
- bottle about 5,500 bottles per day
- 60% of their wine stays in Portugal
- 40% of the wine goes to external markets with Brazil, Angola and Germany taking most of their exports
- machine presses the red wine in the first tanks 3x per day and the red grapes ferment 8-10 days in the first tank
- the white wine is pressed once only and 15-20 days in the steel fermentation tanks
- this winery produces four different reds, two different whites and a late harvest
- the bottling machine cleans each bottle, injects nitrogen to minimize any oxidation in the bottle, injects the wine and corks the bottle
- a separate machine labels each bottle
- the harvest this year started early as it was around August 10th
- they use French and American oak barrels; the new barrels are used for their premium red wines and then the medium priced wines and the entry level red gets the barrels for aging
- the more expensive the red the longer the aging in the barrels (16 months aging for the expensive red)
- interesting in the barrel room we heard crickets and Bernardo verified that live crickets were living in the barrel room
- our private tour lasted about 30 minutes
First steel tank where the immediately picked red grapes are deposited.
Bunch of stems that the machine removes and then deposits in this bin.
Steel vat of red grape juice after crushing.
Vines are now changing colours.
We wondered about these vines as the clusters are there, but no grapes! This is an example of machine picking of the grapes. This would be for their entry level red wine. More expensive wines are hand-picked.
After the wine tour, it was then time to sample two wines. We picked a table outside on their patio overlooking the back of the winery with pretty good views. Given we were going to get four wines poured with our lunch, we chose two other red wines to taste and compare. The pairs were very generous (as usual in this country). A Reserva 2012 and a Moon Harvest 2013. The Reserva is their top of the line red wine with 14% alcohol, three varieties of grapes, 16 months in a barrel, purple colour, one of the grapes is used strictly for colour. Full-bodied red and very smooth. Plus, lots of complex flavours and nose.
The 'Moon Harvest' red is given this name because they harvest the specific red grape used in the wine during a full moon night picked by an Austrian partner. It is aged a lesser amount in the barrels. The specific red grape is Alicante Bouchet. It was good, but too many tannins.
We loved the Reserva 2012 (on the right) and will purchase a bottle to take home. :-)
Our lunch menu and each plate is paired with one of their wines. The 48 Euro price/person is inclusive of the wine pairing. Lana didn't do the wine pairing (designated driver) so cheaper for just the food.
On the upper left is goat cheese in olive oil and just below are two patés (tuna in left dish and mushroom/sausage), olives below left and three kinds of butter below right. There was a basket of Alentejo bread.
This arrived a couple of minutes later and is Tiborna (bread delivered warm and sprinkled with salt and olive oil). It was brilliant and so easy with delicious results!
This salad is comprised of a spicy cheese, roasted pears, grapes, arugula and lettuce. Very good salad and the white wine pairing was good. The white wine was dry style and minerally.
Large piece of cod poached in red wine with vegetables and paired with an excellent light-bodied red wine. Really excellent cod fish that is enhanced by the wine pairing.
Veal strip loin with flavoured potato strips in oregano with baked tomatoes. The veal was tender and even tastier with the fat. Very rich food. The pairing with the red wine was excellent as well. This was paired with "23 Barricas" Red Wine and we decided to purchase a bottle.
Yes, this is dessert of almond pudding and coffee ice cream. Paired with their Late Harvest wine. Good pairing, but I wasn't a fan of this Late Harvest sweet wine.
This was a fantastic lunch that lasted about 2 1/2 hours of actual eating and drinking. Lots of time between dishes and normally I would get some anxiety with the delays, but hey we are on vacation in a region where nothing moves quickly. So relaxing here and the food and wine were primo. In the end, we drank six of their seven wines.
One excellent event was one of the servers providing a map of the Alentejo wineries and wine areas. In addition, he circled and discussed very good wineries and places to eat. We have some more possible destinations for our remaining days in the Alentejo.
Of course, Lana will need to drive home as I have consumed a lot of wine, although it was over a long time period. Safer for both of us for her to drive. She did a great job and we were back within about 90 minutes. She really navigates traffic circles well which comes in very handy driving here as there are traffic circles everywhere. She tells me there was one traffic circle in Moose Jaw where she grew up and then another larger one in Saskatoon where she went to University.
This is an example of how this region is similar to our Prairies with this grain elevator and not the only one we saw during our trip. I think Lana is nostalgic about the Prairies after seeing this countryside.
On the ride back Lana was talking about a pastry/bakery place she read about in our guide book. Pastelaria Conventual Pão de Rala uses recipes developed by local convents. One of their cakes, Pão de Rala, was highly recommended. We walked there fairly easily as Lana is getting pretty good about figuring out the best routes in this town. Interestingly we notice that Lana follows the blocks and intersections on a map while I prefer to write out the directions by street name and turns. Not a friendly welcome on our arrival and I thought the persons eating at the tables were staring at us. Maybe because we are obviously tourists? We ended getting two pieces of the cake for take away. Cost was 6.50Euro which is very expensive for Portugal.
Large Pão de Rala cake.
These look like yummy desserts, but we didn't order any.
More delicious looking pastries.
Back to our hotel room and cool off from the afternoon heat. We have dinner reservations for 19:15 at Restaurante Dom Joaquim located about a five minute walk from our hotel. When we arrive and confirm our reservation we are the first ones. Within about 30 minutes, many more tables are being occupied. Interesting that some of the customers (no reservations) are very particular about the table location. In fact, some balk at the table and/or point to another table. Mostly couples at first and no reservations. By the time we leave around 20:45 the place is very busy. We are not very hungry given the huge amount of food we had at lunch. We decide to share an appetizer and entree.
This restaurant is well appointed and comfortable. We were warmly welcomed and service was good. Their wine menu was a huge book! Given Lana won't share a bottle, I order a glass of the house red wine = Rocim wine "we smash the wine with our feet" the server declares. As usual, an extremely generous pour and very good pairing with the entree. Another bonus was they gave us two menus! Plus, instead of sneaking appies onto your table they bring their offerings on a tray and describe the prices.
Tray of Alentejo appetizers offered before you order. Clockwise from the top left: octopus and pepper salad, chicken meat pies, olives, octopus again, boiled quail eggs, fruit salad with shrimp, sautéed mushrooms and crispy pork crackling. We passed on these but they sure looked good.
We ordered an appetizer of Baked cheese with oregano served with toasted bread. The cheese was warm and tasted like a mild sheep cheese and soft. Good start to our meal.
Entree of Fried Pork Tenderloin "Portugese Art" with fried garlic and pata negra (Alentejo air-dried ham). When the dish arrives our server actually spoons the meal onto our plates. The sauce is very good, but the pork a little tough.
Lana orders a house salad as she continues to crave vegetables and greens.
When we were paying our bill the server brought us two complimentary glasses of Ginja (cherry liquer) that they make in-house. They serve it with an ice cube. It was delicious.
We have noticed that in Évora they serve 'family style' as you keep your plate and serve yourself from the dish they bring. We had two excellent meals today, so lots of pictures of food and wine. Another beautiful walk home in the cool refreshing air. We didn't do much walking as it totalled only 5 kms. We are driving to another winery tomorrow for wine tour/tasting and then lunch. Tough life? :-)
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