Food & Drink in the Algarve, Portugal

what to drink during your stay in the Algarve

The Wines of Portugal - the dry Rosés

Bom Dia

Welcome to the wine article for July and at long last we can say that we have been experiencing some sunny, Algarve-like weather!  Having said that when lunching earlier this week in Staffordshire with a colleague, she told me that her husband was currently in Portugal with friends for the World Cup and they had had several days of rain.  And yes, I do know that the World Cup is in Germany - obviously someone forgot to tell Ray!  By the way, are we flying the Portuguese flag on our villas and cars?  Indeed, I am writing this article sitting outside in my very English garden.  So I trust, like me, you have taken the opportunity here or there to consume some of the wonderful dry Portuguese Rosé wines that are now available.

Just a couple of examples for you to try if you haven't enjoyed this experience yet, or even if you have - Val da Clara Rosado (Douro), produced by the Bergqvist's excellent Quinta de la Rosa wine, port & olive oil estate of that region and winemaker, Jorge (pronounced Haw-heh) Moreira (Morris & Verdin - priced around £6.50) or Casa do Vale from Cabeceiras de Basto in the Minho region - in essence lovely, refreshing Vinho Verde Rosé (Atlantico - around £5.99).

The essence of great, enjoyable fruit & dry Rosés is of course the wineries usage of classic quality, premium red grapes - no short cuts please!  So the Tempranillo, Grenache, Pinot Noir and others work so well elsewhere, whilst of course no problem in the Douro, Minho or other regions of Portugal from the many wonderful, indigenous red varieties that I detailed in a recent Retreats article.  Just leeching the colour, plus the structure and those healthy polyphenols, from such grapes over a period of 36 to 48 hours skin contact and maceration, is almost enough to achieve perfection and the desired quality.  It's not quite that simple of course but that's the great winemakers' basic requirement.  A lot of us are now recognising the depth of flavour and quality, offered by these beautifully coloured, tasty wines.

To continue the story of Portuguese wine & food pairing from last time, at a recent workshop hosted in Northamptonshire, we once again delighted the chocoholics present with a matching seminar, which just had to include Port.  On this occasion Dows `Finest Reserve' Ruby Port (Waitrose - £6.74) which was just a great accompaniment to some serious dark chocolate (85% Cocoa!). More next month too on the subject of Portuguese wine matching with foods as we are hosting a dinner next week for the Institute of Directors.  Please do remember, that if you would like to attend one of our functions, e.g. our Classic Portuguese Wine Dinner in Norwich in November, or indeed have us organise one for your group or party, home or abroad, just contact us by email or telephone (enquiries@wine-educators.com or 01327 354480).  This applies too if you have any questions you would like us to answer; we are always more than happy to talk wine & all things Portuguese.

Before it becomes too old a news item, I did promise you a look back, from a Portuguese perspective, at the London International Wine Trade Fair held in mid-May at ExCel in London's Docklands.  I know that the Wine Product Manager for ICEP, the Portuguese Trade & Tourism office, was delighted afterwards with the response to the Portuguese section of the Fair.  It was both one of the busiest and most attractive of the regional or national pavilions, of which there were many. By complete contrast, I had a post-show email from a fellow educator in one famous wine producing country (no names but it was not France!), saying did we notice and agree how flat and dull the ****** section was? (And don't try guessing from the number of asterisks as they do not correlate to the countries name!).

There was a very strong representation from a number of the regions, particularly Vinho Verde and the Douro, two areas that have so much to offer, like all of them of course, and that I have mentioned a lot over the months.  It would have been very easy to spend all three days of the show in the national pavilion, tasting the diversity of wines and wine styles, and talking to the numerous producers in attendance.  Me, I prefer to do it in situ!  So I plan to at least be in Lisbon and the Algarve in the coming few months.  So the future looks very positive, indeed even Rosé, for Portugal.

As I also mentioned last month I will be in Porto in just a couple of days time from now so will be writing up that visit to the great city of Port Wine for you, as I will be able to spend a little time with at least a couple of producers and wineries.  Until then enjoy your Portuguese wines.  Talk about bad timing - I fly in on Monday having just missed, on Saturday evening, one of the city's great festivals and spectacles - the San Joao night, when once a year the ancient Port barges, barcos rabelos, race a regatta around the city's great Douro River between Porto & the Port suburban enclave of Gaia - Vila Nova da Gaia to be precise.

The great river by the way, a twisty snaking path from Spain through the grey, rugged northern Portuguese mountains and its stunning, steep, horizontally terraced vineyards emerges into the Atlantic Ocean here at Gaia. The Douro really is a place that lovers of Portugal, lovers of wine and port, and in fact just lovers generally should put on their `to visit' list. If this plus last month's wordage on Port is not enough to tempt you, then I hope next months `travel report' and maybe some other mentions will get you there.

Until next month, enjoyable drinking.

Martin Ward               Wine Educators International

If you would like to know more about Portuguese Food and Drink, why don't you dip into our Restaurants in the Algarve section and our series of articles on Portuguese Wines and Ports.  We also feature some Traditional Portuguese Recipes and a glossary of useful Portuguese food & drink words and phrases

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