Total Emersion In Lisbon Portugal
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
Total Emersion In Lisbon Portugal
If you go sightseeing and do the typical tourism around the
city, you will learn a lot about Lisbon history, hear the
fascinating story of the earthquake in 1755 and see the effects
of this disaterous events even though many beautiful and
interesting monumentsstill remain. But for someone who has done
similar sightseeing of this city and others around it like
Porto, Fatima, Faro and Albufeira, there is another important
part of Lisbon Portugal where you can also learn its history,
past and present. Let us dive into the juicy world of wine and
its history. Lisbon Portugal and its wines On the ourskirts of
Lisbon there are four grape growing regions. To the west, just a
little north of Estoril is the region called Carcavelos. This
wine, like many other wines in Lisbon, got its good reputation
thanks to the alliance with the English. It is a wine with a
full-bodied flavour with an after taste of nuts, from moderately
to semi-sweet. Colares, going towards the northeast, makes some
of the most unusal wines around. The city is found between the
hills of Sintra to the east and the Atlantic beaches to the
west. The variety of the grape used, a small dark blue one, is
grown in the sands of the Atlantic Ocean. As you can imagine,
the process is a very arduous one because the roots must be
planted in the Mesozoic layer of clay. Thanks to this thick and
protective type of land, the grapevines that are used today
survived the great plague which hit Europe in 1870. Therefore,
the plants and wines are just as they were a hundred years ago.
See how much history you can learn ! These wines are half-bodied
and leave your mouth with a concentrated flavour. For a more
finer and fragranced bouquet, a cleaner and drier flavour
although with a slight marked acidity, go for a Bucelas wine.
These vineyards are about 25 kilometers northeast of Lisbon,
being grown on the clay hillside and in the ground near the
valley of the River Trancao. The majority of these wines are
young ones and do not spend much time in barrels but are very
popular among other countires of the European Community. So, it
is up to the traveller to find a goos aged Bucelas. One that has
spent quite a few years in Brazilian oak barrels before it has
been bottled, making it have a fruitful and more exotic flavour.
The aged ones are considered to be among the best white wines in
Portugal. Courtesy Of Oporto The Portuguese wines are world
famous thanks to the oporto wine from Porto, their eminent
embassador which has been made since 1830 with the collaboration
of the British. With a long and fascinating history, the oporto
wine has won its place among other great sweet wines like
sauternes, tokai and madeira. it is a reinforced wine whose
grapes have been cultivated in the mountainous and rugged
terrain of the High Duero. It can be either white or red,
although it is the red wine which has been given fame. When a
wine is said to be reinforced, it means that the natural
conversion of the sugars in the grapes i alcohol have been
stopped at a determined moment when the addition of Portuguese
grape liqueur has been added. This addition increases the
alcoholic concentration between 15 and 24 percent, making it an
energetic and moderately sweet wine. Flying from Lisbon to
Madeira Even if you are not used to drinking many different
wines, you cannot help but to have heard about Madeira wine
through good friends, at a meeting or on the television. From
the 16th century, the island of madeira was frequented by
sailors making their long journeys to the new world and used
Madeira as a stop-over, to relax in its paradisical atmosphere
and, why not, drink its national product. There are four types
of wine: Sercial which is the driest, pale in colour with a
light body and drunk with an appetizer. Verdelho is a medium dry
wine also used for appetizers or with soups. Malmsey wine is the
richest with its full-bodied twang, sweet and therefore best
with desserts. And lastly is Bual with a smokey savour,
medium-bodied and slightly sweet so it would go best with
desserts or cheeses. Madeira wine is aged in barrels anywhere
from three to sixteen years so that they can be classified on
the labels as vintage. Vintage wines are only made from the most
select grapes and therefore the weather also plays an important
role in each years quality.
And after having done the wine route, flying on down to the most
southern region to Faro or Albufeira to soak up some rays laying
on the terraces of some of the best hotels as the weather is
usually quite nice many months of the year.Or visit the nearby
town of tavira, one of the oldest and most enchanting one in the
Algarve region, just a stone throw away from Lisbon, Portugal.