Sep 3 - big pours

Usually you think of wine tastings as tiny amounts in glasses so that you can get a taste of the wine without drowning your senses.  Yesterday's three wineries definitely didn't subscribe to that idea.

Our guide, Manuel, toured us in his taxi.  He does this full time, speaks several languages and is very knowledgeable about the area.  As a side note, if you think that life here is "easy", "simple", think of not having had a vacation for over a dozen years, with a tough economy. 

Anyway, we hit the first winery, a small farm that would only be known locally as they don't export, and started getting wine samples after a brief tour and description of the port-making process.  We'd been through 3-4 5-6oz glasses of wine - each ! - that got gradually more robust before we got to the ports, a ruby and a tawney -- 30 year old tawney -- how smooth !  It was wonderful !

Too much wine !

Our original intent was not to bother with lunch but having consumed so much wine, we decided that lunch would be a good idea.  That said, we did it lightly; I had an appetizer and Sandy had a salad.  Ok, she also had desert. 

Back in the car, we headed to another winery, this time we chose a flight of reds to share rather than having our own glasses, and a flight of ports.  Well, before we were finished the reds we'd decided that we'd had enough wine but it was too late, she was bringing the ports.  This tawney, a 3-year-old, wasn't nearly as nice, surprise surprise. 

From there we headed to a much larger winery that produces Vinho Verde and exports to North America, in fact to the LCBO.  We will have to look that up.  A beautiful setting, we got the tour first and then a taste with cheese that they also make.  They produce something like 17 million bottles of Vinho Verde per year.

It was a long day.  Manuel had picked us up at 9am an we were back around 7pm.  How much did it cost ?  Well, just a little more than a day of skiing and less than a game of golf at a good club, just to put it in perspective.  We had a wonderful day and would do it again and would recommend his services, vs taking a group tour. 

Naturally I have some pictures that I'll get to later ...

Today we head to Spain, an overnight stop on our way to Bordeaux, St. Emilion to be exact.  We are starting the run back to Paris for our return.

Onward !