Our alarm is 08:15. We have an appointment at Adega Mayor winery for 11:00 this morning and it is about a 75 minute drive from Évora. Our reservation is for a wine tour/tasting and then a "picnic". This was all organized with Tiago Correia a few months ago. Another winery written about in the NY Times article. This winery is known for its architecture (See Lana's additional blog entry) and the quality of its wine. The writer of the newspaper article really enjoyed himself. We arrive about 15 minutes early and there was no road construction on the route. Yeh!
We did eat most of the cake we purchased yesterday this morning while in the car. It was delicious so maybe the extravagant price was worth it? Ingredients are ground almonds, sugar, eggs and (just as Lana guessed thinking it was kind of strange!) sweet squash. It has a lot of egg yolks, per Lana's research on the internet. Trouble with this bakery is the service was brutal and we would not recommend buying anything here.
Arrival at Adega Mayor winery. Alvaro Siza Architect designed award winning winery.
We were directed to the bathroom on the top floor and this is what was outside the door on the top floor!
We began our wine tour a little late and were joined by a couple from Ireland and a new sales rep for the winery. We began with a video in their small auditorium. These are my notes from Tiago's tour:
- First vineyards planted in 1997
- Winery completed in 2007
- 85 hectares of grapes on their estate + 180 hectares of contracted grape production
- Produce 1 million bottles per year
- 25% White 75% Red/Rosé
- Pruning in the winter is an integral part of their quality control program for their vinification
- Turbulent fermentation is an important process in the wine making and transformation of sugar to alcohol
- 36% of their wine is exported and of that 84% is exported to Angola
- 1500 bottles per day can be bottled in this winery
- All their bottles use corks and not screw caps
- All their grapes are picked by hand
- Vast majority of their barrels are French Oak with some American Oak
- Their entry level reds will stay in the steel tanks
- The barrel room has temperature control and humidity control
- All barrels are sold after four years of usage
- Their 'classic' Reserva spends 18 months in French Oak and bottle aged for another 18 months before sale
- Only 1 white wine is barrel aged
- Each barrel has 225 litres capacity
- Irrigation of their vineyard by drip method only
- Tour lasted about one hour and we finished upstairs
Wine bottle labelling machine. Yes, I know this is out of order. ;-)
Empty wine bottles being cleaned. Each bottle is injected by water from a jet below under high pressure.
Forcing in the nitrous oxide.
Nitrous oxide injected into each cleaned bottle before the actual wine is injected. This gas will eliminate any chance of oxidation as no oxygen is left in the bottle.
Corking of each wine bottle.
More corking. Portugal produces 50% of the world's wine bottle corks.
Yes, more corking.
Humidifier jets in the ceiling of the barrel room. This controls the humidity in the room which is very important for the aging of the wine.
Huge barrel room!
Crushing the grapes.
Residue of the grape crushing. This is used as fertilizer.
This means "we are the biggest" and all the employees were wearing this today in the winery production operation. Basically, this is the largest employer in the town. Tiago is our model.
Roof top view of Spain so close to the winery.
Adega Mayor lineup of their entry level wines.
Adega Mayor wines.
More Adega Mayor wines.
Even more Adega Mayor wines.
Adega Mayor winery sparkling wine - they produce a small number.
Tiago presenting the packaging of some of their different vintage years.
When we finished our wine tour, we were then taken upstairs to the top floor where this is what greeted Lana and I. In addition, you can see four empty wine glasses as our package includes wine tasting. Yippee! We sampled a white first, then a rosé, an entry red and a Reserva 2011 red. All their wine was excellent, but we have limited wine skins/weight to take home. We decided to purchase their entry red as it was so smooth and drinkable now. As well, we purchased the white wine we sampled (dry style). The costs of each bottle was below $10CDN. Oh yeah, the ham and cheese were scrumptious!
White wine and bottles of water, crackers with orange marmalade, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, tortilla (Spanish omelette) and salad. Everything in our picnic was delicious and regional Alentejo inspired.
Before we decided to eat. What a setting and experience on top of the winery with absolutely nobody else around. It was quiet, grassy, epic scenery, Spain in the distance, birds chirping, umbrella for shade from the hot sun, eagles soaring overhead on one occasion. Super relaxing. Lana was napping and eating and drinking a little bit of wine. So much food though!
View from the rooftop.
More views from the rooftop.
Our picnic spot on the roof!
Lana napping on her giant pillow!
After our picnic we went downstairs to their wine shop to select our two wine purchases and another good talk with Tiago. He provided some recommendations for a visit to Monsaraz as he lives near this town. He confirmed that a simple winery in the village José de Sousa we should visit besides getting to Herdade do Esporão.
We figured we might as well visit a winery recommended by Pedro from Herdade dos Grous yesterday being Herdade das Servas (located south of Estremoz). Very unpretentious place and once Lana figured out how to better input the GPS coordinates then we located it quickly. Very casual and you don't pay for your wine tasting. You can taste as many wines as you like. We purchased the white wine below. In addition, you can sample your wines outside on their patio.
This very tasty white wine cost 7.67Euro - so cheap and so good. We took home a bottle.
Presentation in Herdade das Servas of the Roupeiro grape variety. You could taste them fresh off the vine.
Same with these Cab Sauv grapes. Tasty.
Another good driving job by Lana to get us back to Évora. This wine drinking precludes me from driving. Lana's project back in our room was to find a decent casual Portugese restaurant for a quick bite as neither of us are hungry after all the food we ate during our picnic. She found Restaurante Adega do Alentejano in Fodors so off we went. Well reviewed as a local place for the price.
Restaurante Adega do Alentejano entrance (check out the pata negra hanging from the ceiling).
Menu in Portugese on the wall. We needed our server to do some translating before we ordered.
Our order of Iscas de Porco Preto (black pork) with warm and soft potato chips, rice, salad and a wedge of lemon. The meat was tender and flavoured. Perfect portion size for the two of us to share. Plus, a glass of their house red wine. Total cost for dinner for two = 12.60 Euros. Note that my very generous pour of the house red wine cost 0.90Euro (cheap!). Our small carbonated water cost the same. One event was I asked our waiter if the wine was from Alentejo? His answer "Well, its not from your country."
On our way back we ran into a couple that we were checking their map and obviously lost. They were trying to find a restaurant that we had eaten at a few nights ago - Cafe Alentejo. We walked them right to the restaurant. This couple was from South Carolina. They appreciated our Canadian hospitality. :-)
Our walking for today was only 3.5kms. Yes, pretty pathetic but it was another fantastic day! We are really enjoying the Alentejo and the warmth and friendliness of its residents. Plus, the wine and food and pretty good!
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