More in the Duoro Valley!

An easy day today - breakfast at 9:30 and then a drive to Quinta Penascal (Fonseca Wines). We were told that the drive to this Quinta was a lot rougher than the drive up to Sandemann's. I'll admit that it did have a few hairy spots but overall an easier drive, possibly because it was much shorter than up to Sandemann's and not quite as high up but not by much. What was so cool about this Quinta is that they gave you an audio guide and let you loose in the vineyard. We had about a 45 minute stroll through the vineyards whole learning about the grapes, their planting process, the history of Fonseca wines, etc.

Rita invited us to see the chapel that is part of the main house. This is where her son and two daughters were married. She and her husband were married in this same chapel when it was in another house of her fathers. He later had the chapel moved to this house.

Oh, did I forget to mention the the road in and out (same road) is basically one lane on the side of the mountain. We got about halfway up when we came to a wider spot in the road and there were two big wine transport trucks parked while the wine was being transferred from the storage tanks above into the trucks for transport to Gaia for aging. Wasn't sure what I was going to do until the drivers waived me between the trucks. We turned in the side mirrors and slowly inched our way through. Obviously we made it cause I'm writing this. Just another heart attack moment for Ernie.

These are the trucks I had to drive between

The drive up to the parking lot at Quinta Panascal

Quinta Panascal

See the hose for the wine to be loaded I to the truck from the vats above?

 

The soil here is ground up schist. In some case, the grapes have to send roots down 10 meters to find water

 

Poppies are blooming all over the place. I just love them.

 

Vats at Quinta Panascal

Discovered a new drink that we just love - equal amounts of white port and tonic with a sprig of mint, all over ice. The problem is that we had a white port in Porto and didn't like it. However, Fonseca's white port is aged in oak for a period and it created an entirely different taste. This one was on so good. Now here's the really big problem, they don't export to the U.S. Currently they don't make enough to export on that level. Guess we're just going to have to keep trying white ports until we find one that works just as well. I know, what a terrible problem to have.

After Quinta Panascal, we tried to go to another one but they just closed for lunch. Not a problem since there are so many quintas here, we would just go down the road to another one. Got to Quinta do Rosa and made it into their parking area (if you could call it that - one parking spot under a narrow trellis). Well we would figure out how to get out after tasting their wine. Not going to happen, they were closed for lunch and then had abig group coming in afterward so they were not doing other tasting. Back to the drawing board! A multiple point turn was not going to work so I just had to back out of the parking area, through the narrow gate, onto the road. Thankfully not a busy road!

Decided to have lunch at a restaurant on town owned by Antonio's friend. Finally found the restaurant and they were closed (cause it was Monday and lots of places in Europe are closed on Monday). Found another restaurant and marveled at our flexibility (humble aren't i?)

This is the bridge across the Duoro leading into Pinhau. It was built by Eiffel!

A closer view of a rabelo, the boats that used to take the port down River to Gaia for aging

Found yet another Quinta after lunch and they were now open so in we went. Superb table wines and a great 40 year old port. Met a lovely Australian couple from Melbourne and said goodbye to them and the Quinta about an hour later. One more to go before calling it a day so we went to Quinta do Tedo. Again, lovely table wines and ports. Fun guy to talk to behind the bar.

A closer view of a rabelo, the boats that used to take the port down River to Gaia for aging

The view from the tasting terrace of Quinta do Tedo

We're back at the B&B now enjoying yet another glass of wine while writing this. Can't believe the Spain/Portugal portion of our travels are almost over. We have tomorrow here and then we go to Merida for more Roman ruins and then Sevilla to drop off the car. After that on to Amsterdam!

The view from the tasting terrace of Quinta do Tedo

Hope y'all have a good night. We're waiting for dinner - another great surprise!

The view from the tasting terrace of Quinta do Tedo

 

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