Best Time to Visit Douro

September 28, 2016The Portuguese Wine

The Douro was the first demarcated wine region in the world and its landscapes offer such beauty and magic that it could easily be called the enchanted valley. Its beauty amazes throughout the year but there is a time period that makes a visit to the valley just perfect.

The Douro region offers breathtaking landscapes regardless the time of the year, but there is a time period that makes any visit much richer. We’re talking about Harvest Season when the vineyards are ready to crop and the colors are just dazzling. The Douro seethes and you can feel the grapes aroma in the air.

Being one of the best wine destinations in the world, the Douro region is visited every year by thousands of tourists but, above all, is visited by wine and food lovers. So it only makes sense to enjoy this region during the period of the year when the vineyards come alive.

There is a whole set of activities and experiences that are available only during this time period, such as participating in the harvest with the locals and producing wine from the grapes that you just picked. There are various experiences and harvest tours available for this season.

If you choose to visit the Douro on autumn and are passionate about wine, don’t miss the wine tours during the harvest season! Feel and live the Douro’s wine-making tradition with this harvest toursselection.
Here’s an insider’s tip, Portugal is the trendiest holiday destination in Europe and Douro is one of its most visited regions, so the tours demand is high and the availability is limited. If you are planning on visiting Portugal during harvest season, book your tour and secure your reservation as soon as you can.

Quinta das Carvalhas, one of the most emblematic and spectacular properties in the Douro Valley, suggests you spend a different day with them picking the grapes side by side with its own Viticultural Manager: Alvaro Martinho, a passionate man who has dedicated most of his life to its vines and environment. This harvest tour includes Hand-Picking Experience, Lunch, visit to the winery and wine tasting. An experience you will treasure for many years to come.

Quinta Nova Luxury Winery House also offers a harvest memorable experience. Because this is a special time, they want to make sure you live an unforgettable experience in the vineyard and winery. This harvest tour starts in the morning and includes training and delivery of material, grape picking in the vineyard, lunch, and a wine tour that includes a tasting of the 1st wine in the cellar and other wines.

Quinta do Panascal is an exceptional vineyard site and one of the best wine farms in the Douro. They’re a pioneer at sustainable wine growing, as well as producing the first biological Port wine.
This harvest tour includes educational audio support through the vineyards and winery, while observing the works taking place at the vineyard and in the traditional wine presses, commented tasting of three Porto Fonseca (Siroco, BIN no 27, Tawny 10 years), and lunch.
At the end of the tour, there will be a special wine tasting of a limited bicentenary edition of Porto Crusted.

Quinta da Pacheca provides a range of harvest experiences. The Lagarada experience allows you to enter the winepress (lagar) where, with the master, you will be able to press the grapes properly coordinated with the rest of the workers. To recover from the “hard work”, at the end a glass of Port wine will be served. There is the possibility to add to this experience, lunch in the garden with all the workers and/or dinner at the traditional wine cellars.
There is also a full-day harvest experience available where you can join the working team and participate in an unforgettable experience. This tour begins with the cutting of the grape in the middle of the Quinta vast vineyards, straw hat, tobacconist scarf around the neck and scissors in your hand. With the sunshine comes the meal, right in the middle of the vineyard. After a day in the field, pressing the grapes is the final step, a real party. The staff offers you all the equipment necessary to fully live and enjoy the experience.
At the end, you’ll be able to tell your friends, throughout the years, that you drank wine made by you. A truly memorable day.

Quinta do Pôpa features one of the best harvest tours in the Douro region. This tour invites you to a full-day experience and it starts with a brief introduction about Quinta do Pôpa roots, its people, and history followed by wine and regional products tasting. With Douro popular music in the background, you’ll be guided through the vineyards and learn about the different grape varieties. You’ll participate in the grape picking and transportation to the winery. To recover your strength, you’ll enjoy a typical lunch with wine tasting in the vineyard. In the afternoon, you’ll participate in the foot treading and, to end the tour in the best way, another wine tasting assisted by the farm winemakers.

By Wine Tourism Portugal

Mussels in White Wine Sauce with Onions and Tomatoes – The appetizer that should be in every cook’s repertoire!

September 21, 2016September 23, 2016The Portuguese Wine

I of the things I admire about French cooking is the fact that inexpensive foods are given the same loving treatment as the luxury items, and frequently turn out to taste even better. Take mussels. Probably the most popular mussel dish is “moules marinieres“, a classic French recipe using wine, garlic, shallots, parsley and butter. This dish is easy to make, and tastes divine. The only different thing with my variation is that I added fresh tomatoes to the sauce. I love it this way. See for yourself when you try this recipe. Read more →

Canning 2.0: Meet the Portuguese Company up to Some Fishy Business

September 20, 2016The Portuguese Wine

At the turn of the 19th century, Napoleon’s French Army needed help. Specifically, they needed a more effective way of feeding the troops, one that kept them energized over long periods of time without the supplies going bad. Nicolas Appert, chef to the nobility, stepped up to the plate and figured out a way to store food for mind-boggling amounts of time in glass jars sealed with wax. In 1810, he won a prize of 12,000 francs from the French government for his innovation and spent the rest of his life perfecting the process and writing cookbooks about how to preserve food. A few years later, Englishman Brian Donkin started using tin instead of glass to prevent breaking, and what we now know as canned food as born. Read more →

Harvest in Portugal: See the Most Beautiful Wine Country in the World

September 15, 2016September 15, 2016The Portuguese Wine

The Alentejo, Portugal, has taken 1st place in voting for the Best Wine Region to Visit in USA TODAY’s 10Best.com Readers’ Choice travel awards.

Portugal is one of the most innovative wine countries in Europe. The charming Alentejo region is a fast emerging wine region that is known for its vast cork oak forests, it is a rolling landscapes, not to mention its bold wines.

Moscatel Galego White

May 12, 2016The Portuguese Wine

Wines made with Moscatel Galego White variety are known to be very sugary and high alcohol most often. This alcoholic degree due to the fact that the grapes have a high sugar content, which during fermentation yields a higher alcohol content.

The Moscatel Galego Branco vine is to be found to a certain extent all over the Douro demarkated region. moscatel-6162849874

Douro Moscatel (used also to give an aromatic lift to white Ports) is capable of making particularly interesting, complex sweet, fortified Moscatel wines. Moscatel from Douro must contain a minimum of 85% Moscatel, and at least 16.5% alcohol. These wines tend to have good, balancing acidity, floral, citrus aromas, and flavours of orange or tangerine peel, apricots and butterscotch, turning nuttier and more figgy and raisiny the longer they remain in wooden vat. Minimum time in wood is 18 months, but must stay a little longer, while some Moscatel from Douro is aged for 10 or 20 years, and occasional wines are bottled as ‘Colheita’, with a vintage named on the bottle.

Casa do Brasão has a good quality Moscatel wine with orange flavor and honey, and sweet in the mouth with good acidity, perfect to accompany desserts.

Find out more on our website

Organic Olive Oil of Acushla

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016The Portuguese Wine

Olive oil is naturally produced by extracting the juice of olives. Only this already makes it a product naturally produced without the inclusion of any additive in the production.

Apart from this particular factor common to any olive oil, there are the organic olive oils such as those produced in Acushla, which are different from the others because there are not used any chemical at any time during the growth of the trees and olives.

Acushla has olive oils extracted from a variety of native olive trees from Trás-os-Montes – Cobrançosa, Madural, Verdeal and Cordovil. It is considered a balanced olive oil, medium fruity with a slightly bitter and peppery finish. It presents a yellowish green colour. ^6477A9BECFC355260560B0F60840929D72552F9903F1DC92C0^pimgpsh_fullsize_distr

From the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) of Trás-os-Montes, Acushla is a high-quality extra virgin olive oil with a low acidity. Beyond the excellent texture and flavour, Acushla is recommendable from a nutritional point of view, and reveals in all its production stages a distinctive environmental concern. It is ideal to taste raw for dipping bread or drizzling over salads, as well as for finishing dishes and also as an healthy ingredient for cooking almost any dish.

In addition to premium quality of the extra virgin olive oil, Acushla stands out for the elegance and distinct design of its packaging. To be stunning and singular, to promote the perfect preservation of olive oil and to enhance the functional aspect are the three unconditionally variables took in account in the development of our packaging.

Being the light one of the main causes of olive oil oxidation, Acushla bets on a packaging that ensures light full block and allows the perfect preservation of all the sensory characteristics of Acushla. Everything to make their passion reach you with intensity and excellence.

Visit our site and explore the products of Acushla.

Port Wine Route

May 3, 2016May 3, 2016The Portuguese Wine

Douro is a World Heritage site for its specific characteristics such as the cultivation of terraced vineyards. The heritage of the region is vast, ranging from Roman remains cultivation of vines to beautiful farms from producers in the region. It also has a historical component, because it was the one of the first demarcated regions of the world. From that time, there are still the Pombaline landmarks that demarcate the area of the Douro wine region and the organism that controls the quality and production of Port wine, now called Institute of Douro and Port Wine.

For these reasons and more, it was planned a Port Wine Route and inaugurated on September 21, 1996. Based on qualitative pre-defined criteria, it were selected and registered 54 places, located in the Douro Region and neighbouring parishes, which are directly or indirectly related to the wine culture.

This way, the visitor can find from small winegrowers to great wine producers in the Douro Wine Region – Port Wine, DOC Douro, Muscat and sparkling – and can visit the vineyards and winery, taste and buy wine and participate in various wine-growing jobs.

This route is mainly divided into three groups:

Baixo Corgo
Cima Corgo
Douro Superior

Explore on our website the variety of quality wines of the Douro and Porto.

Vila Jardim – wine from Tejo

April 27, 2016April 27, 2016The Portuguese Wine

The area of the Tejo has unique characteristics:

– The climate varies across the region

– Vines grow in “leziria” soils, which are fertile and produce quality wines

– Some producers work directly with co-operatives

– Local producers privilege quality above all. Their crops grow in the border of Alentejo, where it is hot, dry and with a sandy soil known as “charneca”

– Across the Tejo river, towards the border with Lisboa and by the mountains of Encostas de Aire, there are clay soils

– In the west part of Tejo, the sea affects the climate, making it wetter, windier and cooler

All these factors make the wine have a particular and exceptional quality.

The wine Vila Jardim Touriga Nacional is a good example. As we know, Touriga Nacional is present in several areas of Portugal, but each of these areas has different features.

This wine has an aroma of smoked country notes with herbs, and, in the mouth, it has good acidity and floral notes. It is a great choice to go with grilled meat and to serve between 16 – 18ºC.

If you want to taste this wine, talk with us!

Get to know Cantinho das Aromaticas amazing teas

April 21, 2016April 21, 2016The Portuguese Wine

The benefits of tea are becoming well known. With lots of varieties in the market, each with different benefits, the consumer can choose the one that suits best to what they want. Choosing the tea by its taste will not harm anyone too.

With different flavors and recognized quality, Cantinho das Aromáticas is located in north of Portugal, in Vila Nova de Gaia, and makes organic production of teas with some awarded varieties.

On the farm, we can find Iberian flora with 150 species and varieties. From condiments to medicinal plants, some of the cultivated species are echinacea, lemon verbena, lemongrass, peppermint, laurel, lemon thyme, and many others. In January 2012 the company celebrated ten years of existence.

The location of the production garden of Cantinho das Aromáticas has some climactic advantages, since the farm is located near the sea in a transition zone between the Mediterranean and Atlantic climates. This unique climate, in addition to the enormous care that are put into the preparation of the soil, gives an unique and unequalled character to the herbs.

Cantinho das Aromáticas has various types of packaging: cans with 40g of tea, boxes with 20 bags of tea and, also, boxes with 60 bags (10 bags of 6 types of tea).

The flavours you can find in the cans:

The boxes have these flavours:

These are the two teas awarded:

Quinta do Perdigão Alfrocheiro won a gold medal in Japan

April 19, 2016April 21, 2016The Portuguese Wine

The wine Quinta do Perdigão (single variety) Alfrocheiro won a gold medal in Japan: “Sakura” Japan Women’s Wine Awards 2016.

From one of the most awarded wineries in the Dão region since 1999, this red wine was born from the Alfrocheiro grape, the most delicate and expressive of the Dão’s grapes it is parallel to a pinot noir.

This wine has been fermented and matured in the best french oak barrels of 225ltrs, from the best tanneries of borgonha and bordeaux, for 12 months.

The colour is deep ruby, refleting the fresh aroma of black cherry blackberry, plum, quince cheese, rosemary, balsamic notes, black pepper scent of mediterranean woodland and dutch pipe tobacco.

Quinta do Perdigão Alfrocheiro is ideal when decanted and served at a temperature of 16ºC, on its own, with entrees wild mushrooms, salt cod and other fish, white meat, desserts, coffee and chocolate.

Interested? Ask for samples. Contact us