Aquardente de Medronho

This past week we had two spirited events, Halloween on the Oct. 31st., and “All Saints Day” on Nov. 1st. Celebrating Halloween is something quite new in Portugal, but “All Saints day” has been celebrated here, and around the globe by Catholics for centuries. With all this talk of Spirits, I think this is a good time to talk about another special spirit, not the spooky kind but rather the blow your socks off powerful kind. What Spirit am I talking about…? Aguardente de Medronho.

Aguardente de Medronho Algarve

The alcoholic drink that’s been associated with fine drinking for decades and is exclusive to the Algarve. Read more

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Marquês de Borba 2006 - Alentejo

For this week’s “Now Drinking”, we got a fantastic surprise, thanks to our new favourite wine site, Adegga.com. To help pick our wine, we visited Adegga who recommended the popular Portuguese wine “Marquês de Borba“.

So we put our faith and taste buds in the hands of the good folks at Adegga and chose a couple of bottles, from the results of the first one…we’ll be checking back with them again and again.

Marques de Borba Red Wine - Altenjo

A commanding rich wine, full of crushed dark berry flavours with a long smooth and creamy finish. We liked this wine so much there isn’t any left in the bottle to show you the depth of its colour. Guess we’ll just have to get another bottle : )

We enjoyed this bottle with a 3-cheese pasta and tomato sauce, and savory oven baked roast…the Marquês de Borba was perfect. Would highly recommend it with roasts, game, grilled meats and pasta/tomatoes dishes, a really great red that’s warm and powerful. This wine can often be spotted at good local restaurants, so diners and tourists can look for it on the wine menu.

Marquês de Borba

Produced by: João Portugal Ramos
Region: Alentejo, Portugal
Type: Red wine
Grapes: Aragones, Trincadeira

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White Port Wine - Lágrima

When most people think of Port wine they have a romantic vision of sweet wines with deep red or golden tawny colours. The reality is Port wine is quite complex and comes in a variety colours and types - ruby, tawny, white, Lágrima, vintage, LBV, and the list goes on. Port is a fascinating subject with a deep history that not only involves wonderful food, but politics as well. I’ll save that for a later post. White Ports however is an interesting option that doesn’t always get a lot of attention but is quite divers in itself and comes in a number of options from dry to very sweet, and a great accompaniment for all sorts of dried fruits, nuts and desserts.

Now Drinking

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Now Drinking - Outono de Santar & Pasmados

I’ve had my first sighting of chestnuts, guess this means fall has officially arrived and it’s time to stock up on something appropriate. I’m talking wine of course, and like a kid at Christmas my “short list” is already 40 bottles long - I can hardly wait to try them all. My wine-sniffing nose smells trouble, already.

Not to get too overwhelmed, we’re starting with whites as an easy transition from all the Vinho Verde we drank over the summer. In my first outing in pursuit of new and different for fall, I immediately stumbled on “Outono de Santar” - bingo! Had never seen this beauty before. Its leafy amber color and description gave me a sense that it’s a perfect fall wine with cheeses, dates, raisins, sweet meats, pâté, but a little suspicious it might be a tad sweet. Regardless, it sounded too good to leave behind, and my search continued for something a little sharper. With a new dish already in mind, the second bottle couldn’t be far away, then I found it — “Pasmados”.

Outono de Santar & Pasmados

The label described this lovely, having aromas of green tea and hazelnuts…never imagined those two together, an interesting pairing with the nutty dish I’m plotting. Sold!

Here’s how they fared. Read more

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Quinta de Simaens – Award Winning Vinho Verde

This week we tried another bottle of Vinho Verde … yes we know the summer has ended but we couldn’t resist this one - a 2007 Silver Medal Winner - “Concours Mondial” Brussels.

Quinta De Simaens - Award Winning Vinho Verde

 

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Vinho Verde. Via Latina.

Portugal has so many great wines - from red to port, and everything between. Each week, we will be trying a different local wine and sharing our experience with you. By no means are we sommeliers- just wine lovers. From our experience we hope to make your next wine selection a little easier.

Before the warm summer Algarve days are gone, we wanted to enjoy a nice chilled bottle of Vinho Verde (green wine).

Vinho Verde

 

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