Wednesday, October 5, 2016

10/4 -- Discover Port Wine, Boat the Douro River

Sunrise over the Douro River
Another lazy day, we were to meet the bus at 9:50, but it had problems, so the ladies of the trip were piled into a big cab with Nico to go to a close by winery known for its port and the gentleman followed behind. Quinta de la Pacheca Winery was initially founded as a winery in the 1730s. In 1903, it was sold to another family which has continued the port tradition and added still wines as well.

Before the men arrived, Nico led a few of us into an old house that has been converted into a 15 room B&B, rooms renting for 125-150 euros per night, including breakfast. It was interesting to see the blending of the very old structure with a very modern design sensibility.
Stair to some of the rooms

Reception area with huge stone beam

When everybody was there, we met Ricardo, who showed us around the property and conveyed the history of the property and port wines. Wines made in the Douro valley were being shipped to England, but it was an arduous trip, given the time and many times regular wines arrived in bad shape. Vintners in Portugal started fortifying their wines (adding hard alcohol like brandy) to stabilize them) for the trip, which helped. At some point, someone goofed and added the stabilizing wine too soon which interrupted the action  of the yeast and left the wine much sweeter.The English loved this accident and Port Wine was born. It was the first wine to have standards developed -- in the 1700s -- controlling what it could be made from and other aspects of its vinification. The good stuff now is labeled as DOC and a standards board reviews ports and sets limits for how much port can be produced with an eye to maintaining both quality and price. The winery farms 51 hectares and can only bottle about a third of it as port.
Carved in situ from a dead tree, a sculpture
of bottle, grapes, and leaves.

Ricardo in front of the owner's home.

We went into the fermentation room and were offered the opportunity to stomp grapes -- 4 of us signed up and changed into shorts to keep from getting too messed up. I got in first -- it was kind of like a cold, grainy, mud bath. There were a few warmer spots and we danced around a bit, doing a sort of imitation of Rockets (with a knee lift instead of the high kick that was  not only impossible but not recommended where we could kick grape stuff onto the audience). It was fun, and blessedly short and I was pleased when I was not  noticeably purple after being rinsed off.
Grapes  needing stomping

I was first it and shocked at the cold temperature

The four of us (me, Iwona, Katie, and Steve) decided to try
a  line dance.

The others started to leave and Steve and I
kept trying for just a little longer.


The wine cellar. Ports are aged in huge barrels for longer than
most other wines.

Aging happens more slowly in these big barrels.
After looking around at the property, we participated in cooking our lunch and were divided into the cod team and the octopus team. On the cod team, we were responsible for shredding cod and finding and removing any tiny bones that were left, while the octopus people apparently chopped octopus. Then Jim and Howard got to chop up onions and garlic, while I separated a dozen eggs. Then our instructor started cooking the ingredients and putting the meal together. Meanwhile, we got to taste a reserve red made of their primary grape, Touriga Nacional. This wine needs to age 10 years to be at its best.
The Cod Team: Sandy, Howard, Lynn, & Katie (plus Jim who
manned the camera at this point)

The octopus team: Don, Rick, Rosemary, Steve, Iwona.
Our first lunch course was a salad with the octopus dish as an accompaniment. This was served with a nice light white that I would have bought except I am running out of suitcase room. This was followed by the cod dish, which was paired with a red, colheita. With our creme brulee dessert, we tasted a tawny port, the kind which has been aged in oak so long that it has lost its fruity flavors (which ruby port still has) and it pairs well with desserts.

We wrapped up with a visit to the wine shop and a ride home for a break before our boat ride. We drove up river about a half hour and had a hour ride up and down river in the type of boat used in the past to transport the wines to the coast at Porto. It was a beautiful day and a relaxing trip.

A better look at the highway bridge we saw from our room
The type of boat used to transport wine barrels to the mouth
of the river, and the type of boat we took.
View from the quay where we started out.

Very steep hills all along the river with a lot of old houses.
We ended the day with dinner at a nearby restaurant, and had enticed Helder to join us, since tomorrow is his last day with us. He has been an amazing addition to the trip, unusually involved and interactive compared with most of our bus drivers on other trips.

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