Cork uncorked

Lana here--we have been incredibly curious about the cork trees that we see from the highway. Unfortunately where we are staying in Évora, there doesn't seem to be anything available for tourists to see or learn more about cork production here. I guess this might be like heading to Saskatchewan and hoping to get a tour of a wheat farm or to go to a wheat museum. Nothing really exists like this.

Portugal produces about 50% of all cork production in the world. The bark is removed by hand by extractors who must carefully cut sections of the bark ensuring they do not damage the tree while removing high quality bark for processing. Trees need to be about 25 years old before they can be harvested and the first 1-2 harvests produce lower quality cork. These trees live up to 300 years. The acorns that fall from these trees feed the Prata Negro (black pigs) that are also famous in this area.

First up--here's a real cork tree (Quercus super--the Cork Oak) that has been recently harvested. You'll notice that the freshly exposed internal core of the tree is bright red. There is the number 5 painted on. We saw trees where the bark was beginning to grow back as the red will turn to dark brown, then black as it regrows. We got pretty excited as we were approaching Évora and seeing cork forests from the highway!!

Cork Oak tree

Up close, you can see the interior of the bark that looks like the cork you would see in a wine bottle.

The cork industry is truly self-sustaining/minimal carbon footprint as the bark grows back without harming the tree. Trees must be 30 years old and about 2' in circumference, otherwise, it would be permanently damaged when the bark is removed. The year of the harvest is painted on the tree to ensure that the bark is only removed every 9 years.

Cork bark up close!!

More cork bark up close.

The bark on the tree looks grey, porous and spongey. 

Most of the trees we've seen have a bottom band of bark removed that is about 3-4 feet in height or a similar length removed from the middle of the tree indicating they have only harvested a section the bark from the tree. This one looks like is got completely stripped all in one year--the full Monty!!!

Another cork tree, but most of this tree has been stripped.

Okay, now onto the processing. We pulled these pictures off of the internet to add to this post just so you could see what the production is all about. The bark is washed and soaked in water. This not only cleans all the impurities and dirt from it but also softens the pieces so they can be laid flat which is easier to work with. 

The actual corks are all punched out of the bark by hand.  This is a highly skilled occupation as the technician needs to ensure he produces the highest quality and number of corks from each piece of bark.  

I always wondered if the cork was produced horizontally or vertically from the bark. Turns out it's vertical as you can see from this picture. 

Really thick bark is used to create champagne corks to fit the larger openings on champagne bottles.  Speaking of champagne--one of my most favourite beverages--it turns out that the cork for champagne is cut using the same symmetrical shape as that for wine bottles. So, how does the champagne cork get it's unique "mushroom" shape?  Well, it turns out that the cork is only inserted 2/3rd's of the way into the bottle. So the 1/3 that's left coming out of the top of the bottle naturally expands as the cork absorbs moisture with the 2/3 section expanding only to fit the neck of the bottle. This results in the unique mushroom shape that helps with the manual extraction or uncorking of the champagne bottle--simply twist AND pull at the same time to remove.  

I didn't know this but read that corks can be "mono" as in one solid piece of cork or "agglomerated" where they grind up small pieces, glue them together into long rods and then cut to be made into wine bottle stoppers. Agglomerated corks are not as good in quality as mono corks. Agglomerated corks are also made for champagne bottles. 

Thursday, September 3rd - More Alentejo

No rush this morning so we didn't actually get into our car in the underground hotel parking garage until around 10:30. The only appointment we have today is a 15:00 wine tour/tasting in english at Herdade do Esporão located southeast of Évora near Reguengos de Monsaraz. Only about a 45 minute drive from our hotel.

On the way the countryside was the usual rolling hills, yellow grasses, olive groves and another pair of gypsies riding a horse and buggy.

We decided to head for Monsaraz first. A very striking location high over the surrounding countryside with a castle at its edge. The old town is surrounded by castle walls so pretty cool. At one time the Knights Templar owned the town/castle. You need to park your cars outside of the walled village and walk in through an arched entrance.

We found good parking close to the main entrance. Another day where there is not a lot of tourists or cars. I quickly find a public washroom - very good of the town to have this available. There are not a lot of tourist sights to see in this very small town. As is Lana's practice she purchases a candle in the church (0.50Euro) for a blessing even though she's not Catholic. We loved climbing the stairs of the walls of the castle for more views. Eventually, we got hungry. One place we wanted to eat at decided not to open. In our guide book, Café Restaurante Lumumba, was given a good review so that is where we will eat. Many restaurants in this town don't open until 12:30.

View of the town from a castle wall. The views of the flat plains are outstanding.

 Cemetery just below the castle walls.

 View eastward from the castle walls. This water area is a result of a dam. Across the water is basically Spain (Espanha).

 View towards the castle from one of the small streets. All white-washed buildings.

 How narrow are some of their streets?

 Lana found this real estate advertisement close to the entrance. She was interested in the layout of this residence.

 Example of one of their very old residence doors.

 Another interesting residence door.

 Not hard to find anything in Monsaraz, so we showed up at the Lumumba restaurant around 12:45. The guide book talked about the fact that locals hang out and eat here. Usually, this is a good indicator of decent food. Yes, the food was good and the service was decent as well. No menu in english and our server really only could translate a few of the entrees. No problem as we quickly confirm our order with a large carbonated bottle of water. We are sitting outdoor on their patio out back and soaking in the views and the gentle breezes.

Lana's order of Lamb soup. It comes in two dishes. This dish has the lamb and the potatoes and some pieces of some kind of internal organ!!

 Lana's second dish of the actual soup broth and chunks of bread floating on top of the soup broth. Lana is trying to avoid eating too much wheat so passes on eating the bread with her lamb soup and has only the broth. Very tasty.

 Randy' order of pork ribs (Entrecôte) with fries, rice and a salad. My pork was delicious and tender. The fries were OK and Lana ate my rice.

Throughout this village are photos taken by Miguel Claro for his "Photos Dark Sky Alqueva" project. Check out this link for amazing pictures.

We want to get to the area known as Reguengos de Monsaraz which has at least five wineries, inclusive of Herdade do Esporão. The other winery recommended by Tiago wasn't doing any visits as they were all busy with the grape harvest. We drove to two other wineries with no luck. The smaller wineries we guess have everyone working at the grape harvest.

Our GPS unit works with the GPS coordinates from our excellent wine map of the Alentejo. Once we leave the main road it is about five minutes of driving before we actually got to Herdade do Esporão. Their acreage is astounding. Their winery is another example of a rich investor really going first class on everything! We have encountered these visionary rich patrons really spending the money. We arrived about 15 minutes early. By the time the tour began there were four couples and three children. Our guide was pretty good although I couldn't figure out how to spell or pronounce her name.  :-(

My notes:

• 400 hectares of grapes planted (huge!) and mostly organic. Plus a sizeable olive grove where the olive oil is made in another location.
• An artificial lake (which they made) lies below the winery and is used to provide water in the dry times. Their irrigation is the drip system like other wineries. Out of 365 days last year only 65 days had any hint of rain.
• Vineyards are planted by squares relative to specific grape varieties.
• 70-80% of the grapes are hand-picked
• Grape harvesting began early this year on August 3rd
• 300 employees year round
• Will produce 11 million litres of wine this year
• Over 50% of their wine is exported and mostly goes to Angola, USA and Brazil
• Partially smash grape first
• 5-6 days fermentation in temp controlled steel tanks
• Then onto the automatic stomp machine, then filtered and then to the barrels or bottled (cheaper stuff)
• Expensive grapes that are felt to be special will be stomped by people for up to 10 days (special years and top grapes)
• Blending of the wine occurs in huge steel tanks
• Their area and machines for bottling was huge! They can bottle up to 10,000 bottles per hour. 
• Interesting visit to their cellar which is 30 metres below ground. The first big year of wine production was 1985 and they have some bottles. The cellar is used for aging the wine in bottles.
• Steel tanks used for aging wine and inside the steel is wood.
• Barrel room was vast. Each barrel has a computer label. Lana was smelling the oak barrels and coming up with vanilla and other scents. 
• Change their labels each year. An artist will come up with new labels.

 Grapes just harvested and ready to be de-stemmed through their machinery.

 These tanks will be used for blending. Notice they are outside and how big they are based on the worker at the bottom of the picture. 

 Ancient Roman technique for making wine. Dump the stomped grapes in here and eventually take out the solids that rise to the surface and simply leave the wine to ferment on its own. These are the clay vessels used for this ancient technique. Very occasionally use these and don't sell this wine. OK, you caught me with my pen and note pad = you didn't think my memory was good enough for all our wine tour details?  :-)

The tour lasted about 50 minutes and was very interesting. I asked how they get the corks in the bottles. As expected, the corks are smaller when inserted. After exposure in the bottle and to the liquid they expand ceiling the bottle. Also, keeping the aging bottled wine horizontal is necessary to ensure the cork doesn't shrink thus allowing air into the bottle (oxidation). The cork shrinks in the absence of liquid. 

Our wine tasting was a white wine and a red wine. They were medium priced wines. Neither wine was of interest to us though. I asked for a taste of their two best red wines for comparison. I tasted a 2012 and 2011 Reserva. Both were excellent, but we bought the 2011. This was one of the best wine years in the Alentejo and Douro.

I drove back to Évora as we really didn't have much wine to drink this afternoon. It was very hot in our town. Lana decided to walk to one of the tourist sights we were at on Monday to consider purchasing some gifts. Stopped at a bakery and bought a flan for dessert for later.  :-)

Our dinner destination is Vinho e Nóz. Recommended by Italo (Brazilian we were beside on Monday night at dinner) and is one of the top rated by Trip Advisor. It opens at 19:00 and we decide to walk there and arrive a little early. We do arrive five minutes early and they accept us. Brick interior, simple furnishings, in business for 30 years, family run, open space, huge menu and wine menu, background music is english songs (as usual) and we get a table in the corner as the first guests. 

Ricardo is our server and speaks good english. We order two starters and one entree. Our meal is excellent. In addition, I choose a 0.375Litre bottle of red wine (1/2 bottle not uncommon in Europe) = Marquês de Borba 2013 for 5.50Euro. Very good and great pairing with our steak. Lana ordered a glass of Muscatel de Sétubal for 3Euro (Special Reserve aged in oak barrels) and a delicious aperitif. 

Restaurant menu.

 Presunto Pata Negra (smoked black pork ham) with a sweet, nutty taste. It has spoiled us for prosciutto.

 Queijo Assado (melted cheese) that has a crispiness, warm, tasty and some olive oil and oregano in the cheese. Another hit!

 Our order of Bife do Lombo (Stone Steak). This restaurant is known for this dish.

 It comes to our table with seasoning and that is it. The hot slab of marble will cook our steak. Some of you may remember many years ago, there was a restaurant in Marinaside (opposite False Creek) that was specializing in 'hot stone cooking'. We don't think it lasted long unfortunately but somehow the concept is alive and well here in Portugal.

 Finished version after we flipped it for 3 minutes on each side. Perfectly grilled by Lana who set the timer on her iPhone--afterall, you don't want to overcook a steak this this one. Wow! This was a fantastic steak and we can see why the restaurant is famous for this dish. Lana here--this steak was melt in your mouth tender, meaty and had a very rich beef taste.  Haven't had a steak like this in a long time. The steak wasn't overly huge (we ordered the striploin cut) but due to the richness it was perfect for the two of us to share. The accompanying two sauces you see in the upper corners of the picture were also delicious--the one on the left was flavoured with a touch of balsamic vinegar would be my guess. The one on the right was herb and garlic. Both were excellent as we dipped fries AND pieces of steak.

 Lana wanted vegetables to go with the steak.

 This Muscatel fortified wine was so incredible that we talked our server into selling us a bottle. We weren't sure if we would be able to find the bottle anywhere else. They charged us 20Euro for the bottle. It was 3Euro for a small drink. We don't think they get many people asking to buy a bottle of any wine they serve. We will treasure this aperitif and add to our collection. We now have only one official 'slot' for wine before we head to Vancouver.

We had such a great meal inclusive of food, service and ambience. Walking home in the dark, but another beautiful cool night. We enjoyed a flan with caramel to end our evening in our room. Walking today totalled 7.5kms. For our final day in the Alentejo tomorrow we have only one more spot open for a bottle of wine.  :-(

Portugese Architect Siza Vieira--Part 2

Lana here!!  We arrived at this beautiful winery and were immediately taken by the beauty and amazing architecture of the building. When we checked the architectural model I noticed that the designed was none other than Alvaro Siza Vieria, the same architect who did the Port glass re-design. Well, now my curiosity was piqued :) Turns out Alvaro, as he's known internationally, has designed some pretty cool and amazing buildings. He's also won the Pritzker Prize, the "Nobel Prize" of the architecture world. I can see why.

We are told that the owner of the winery Rui Nabeiro met with Alvaro to discuss the building of a structure of the winery. Alvaro immediately schemed a design out on a napkin based on what he envisioned. Taking a picture of the building itself would be difficult as it's surrounded by rows of grape vines, but I was able to take two pictures from a slide show that highlight just how stunning this design is:

The winery was built in 2006 with a design purposely meant to echo the surrounding agricultural landscapes.  

This was the original napkin sketch. 

The rooftop where we had our picnic is green space complete with marble, grass and a shallow pool--not for swimming. The marble is meant to absorb the heat from the sun and ensure that no heat transfers into the barrel room which is located directly underneath. As well, the grass keeps the ceiling cool. There is no direct sunlight that comes into the building because that would affect the outcome of the wine aging within. So the windows that are available, stream light into offices and meetings rooms and are only reflected down into the lower barrel room where no heat will transpire.

Lastly and I think this was incredibly ingenious, you need to look at an aerial view of the top roof deck. Alvaro designed it to look like a face, but not sure any face, look closer and you'll see the artistic likeness of the winery founder/owner Rui Nabeiro!! For the architect to recognize this was so creative and I can understand how he's won the Pritzker prize. Apparently he is now 82 and still hasn't stopped designing. This man clearly has a gift and it's one he happily shares with the world.

This is a model of the owner's face from above.

Wednesday, September 2nd - Pretty close to Spain

+ Observation + in Portugal, you will rarely find salt and pepper on your restaurant table.

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.

We mostly took a toll road freeway to our destination which is located northeast of Évora and very close to the border with Spain. In fact, when we arrive at the winery and eventually get to the incredible roof we can see Spain in the distance! The closest city is Camp Maior. The drive is through more rolling hills of farms and mostly olive tree orchards. Only two ranches seen as we drive. We have seen tens of thousands of olive trees in this region! Very dry country with mostly yellow colours and little green foliage or crops.

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! 

Our next destination was the rooftop and our 'picnic' surprise. By the way, the total for the wine tour, four glasses (great pours) wine tasting and the huge picnic spread in the next two pictures was 40Euro. So cheap for what we got. With the picnic came a full bottle of white Caiado wine 2014 vintage that was a great pairing with the food and came in an ice bucket. Below, you can see fruit, quiche with carrot, broccoli and asparagus, dessert to your left of custard cake and candied plums, the savoury pastries are chicken, three hard boiled eggs and glasses for wine and water.

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!