Until October 2009, I had no idea there was so much more to wine in Portugal than Port: in fact I knew practically nothing about wine from Portugal except that I liked Port.
And then I was selected by Jo Diaz and Enoforum wine to attend the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon followed by travel throughout the Alentejo region to taste wine and experience the culture and countryside before returning to Lisbon where we saw a few sights and then flew home. During the conference I visited a cork forest and learned about the production of corks from tree to table, discovered how fabulous the cuisine of Portugal is, experienced the deep appreciation they have for the literary arts, explored castles and gazed on Roman aqueducts, and of course, developed a palate for wine from Portugal that is not Port.
And a whole lot more including a reasonable explanation for why we in the US are so unfamiliar with wine from Portugal: because they have always drank all of it themselves!
Until recently, the Portuguese drank up almost all of the wine they were able to produce. It is only recently that they have been able to make enough wine to export.
Lucky us!
To state that the trip was transformative is an understatement. Continue reading →
photo of Merano in the Italian Alps by Brittany Wallace
Far, far above, piercing the infinite sky,
Mont Blanc appears—still, snowy, and serene—
Its subject mountains their unearthly forms
Pile around it, ice and rock; broad vales between
Of frozen floods, unfathomable deeps,
Blue as the overhanging heaven, that spread
And wind among the accumulated steeps;
The red zone is 1000-2000 meters while the white part is 2000-4000 meters; Mt Whitney, the tallest point in the continental United States is 14,494′ — above 4,000′
When the two plates collided, for 300-400 million years, layers of rock of European, African and oceanic origins formed the mountains; for example, the Dolomites or Pale Mountains in northeastern Italy, are made of a type of limestone while to the south and west granite makes up the Mount Blanc Massif which straddles France and Italy. Glaciers scraped away layers leaving behind piles of stone or glacial moraines which created subalpine lakes and valleys as well as influencing the large verdant plain where the Po River flows from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea.
THE PEOPLE
Home to humans for over 10,000 years, these mountains shape 14 million people and unite them with strong traditions in farming, forestry, woodworking, baking, sausage and cheesemaking; the region’s steep terrain secluded and protected them so that their culture and cuisine has barely changed since the medieval period and is similar no matter which side of the mountain you are on.
During the medieval period, the Romans built roads and developed monasteries, which in the 19th century, sheltered travelers, and became tourist destinations.
Which brings us to the subject of this blog post: the wine made in the northern-most monastery and one of the oldest in Italy– Abbazia di Novella— along with the cuisine from Alpine Italy to pair with it. Abbazia di Novella in Varna, Italy has been in operation for nearly 900 years; today the abbey houses 27 monks. We tasted two wines, Alto Adige Valle Isarco Kerner – 2014 and 2015 SRP $19.00 and Pinot Grigio 2014.
Was Albarino Day yesterday August 1 or today August 2? Or every day? Depends on who you ask!
With the “Sixth International Albariño Days” set for August 2-7, 2017, TAPAS invites you to celebrate the Albariño grape with the hashtag #AlbarinoFiesta or check out one of these TAPAS events.
Harney Lane Albarino paired with fish tacos with mango? YES!
Celebrating Albarino this week coincides with the Fiesta del Albariño held in the small coastal town of Cambados, Spain, a traditional home for Albarino in Rias Baixas, Galicia region of northwestern Spain known for producing crisp, acidic white wines ideal for seafood and other pairings.
The back of the Atlantis Albarino sports a handy map of the region of Spain.
By the midway point of 2017, I published 54 posts; add in July and I’m up to 61. Not too bad if I may say so myself. My goal is the lofty and auspicious number of 108 — an average of two a week– and I would say I am on track to achieve that goal as long as I publish 8-10 posts each month for the rest of the year… and since I average 1500 words per post, that’s another 150,000 words!
I could NOT do this without a strong team — thanks so much to Sue Hill who joined in the fun about five years ago, in 2012. She’s awesome in the kitchen and taking notes — plus she has a great palate.
Marshall grilling burgers with Sue a blur in the background
And a huge thank you to Marshall for all of his help in the kitchen and on the grill — he does almost all of the grilling and the meat as well as most of the dishes and I’ll tell you there are plenty used when we are staging photos!
So what went down in June and July of 2017 and what’s up for August?
the wine that inspired the party… which I thought was a Lodi zin…
And what can you do? Well, how about hosting a tie dye party? That’s what Sue and John did! With plenty of zinfandel and burgers too!
Because anyone can throw a backyard BBQ but why not mix it up by offering a craft or organizing a tasting? And make it easy by offering a burger bar with sides prepared in advance and shared potluck style!
We invited a bunch of people and we gathered a case or so of different bottles of Zinfandel– and one Tie Dye red blend. One person supplied the tasting note sheets, and we opened the bottles around a big table with some appetizers in the center. While the corn and turkey and beef burgers were cooking, we tasted the wines and wrote down our notes and votes. We encouraged folks to taste the white zin first but other than that, people tasted the wine that was closest to them and in general worked their way clockwise around the table. Then we converged on the burger bar, loaded up our plates, and tasted the wines with food. And at one point or another, people did some tie-dying!
Barry and Edie getting their tie dye on!
And this is what we came up with!
Note: We had everyone vote for their favorite #1, #2 and #3 by placing a raffle ticket in a jar with the number on it. We assigned first place votes 3 points, second place votes 2 points, and third place votes 1 point. If a wine received a #1 vote, I wrote the score down. Read on to see which one won!
July! You have slipped by so fast we almost missed out on our monthly edition of Taco Tuesday!
This month we are inspired by a fresh strawberries, lime, and shrimp recipe from the current issue of Edible Ventura County paired with three crisp, bright white Viura wines from Spain.
This simple menu let the wines shine– and brought out all of the various flavors in the food! MAGIC!
The crunch of the jicama with the bit of strawberry makes this taco a unique combination of flavor explosions. I loved the strawberry notes with these wines. This wine and food pairing for this evening was over the top, the food the wine, it all went perfectly. Bright acidity in wine, and bright acidity in the food.
Appetizer
Mexican shrimp cocktail with chips
Oysters from the Baja’s Jolly Oyster and Vons
Main course
Strawberry shrimp tacos with strawberry jicama salsa
WINES from Spain
All three wines wowed us — so good with the food! So refreshing for the price! All three $12 or under.
— Gwendolyn Alley, Art and Wine Predator (@ArtPredator) July 12, 2017
Sue and I learned the secret of “wine, cheese, wine” and more during a tasting of three wines from Niven Family along with a selection of cheese and pâté from Fromagerie Sophie, a lovely little cheese shop nestled in delightful downtown San Luis Obispo on tiny Garden Street that carries cheeses, meats, pâté, and other incredible imported goodies from around the globe. We love our cheese and wines so what a perfect stop on our recent SLO county adventure!
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 