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FEBRUARY 2013 PAGE 49
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hink Portugal and you think “Algarve” (or maybe Lisbon and its coastline) and although they are, without doubt, the country’s top tourism attractions, you could go so much further. Increasingly, visitors to southern Europe are looking for that indefinable moment which they know they will remember forever. The unexpected and unique instant when they suddenly fall in love with the country they are visiting. Which is where the Alentejo region of Portugal comes in with its warm spring sunshine, its wine and incomparable food. The region is almost exactly plumb in the centre of Portugal, on the edges of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park – a vast, mountainous area sculpted during the Ice Age with valleys shaped like horseshoes, polished rocks and glacial lakes. The villages of the area are clustered in the valleys and the economy is based on sheep and goatherding and the manufacture of the local Serra da Estrela cheese with many authentic crafts for sale such as basket work using chestnut and wicker, weaving, embroidered cotton and smoked produce.
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lthough there are no bears here anymore, there are wolves – and you would need the appetite of a wolf to enjoy all the ethnic fare available in the local restaurants. If you consider yourself a wine buff and a gastronome, Alentejo is a secret just waiting to be discovered – which it can be, so easily, now Aer Lingus has a Thursday and Tuesday service. The region is almost entirely unknown to Irish travellers although it offers top-class hotels (fancy staying in a restored castle?) stunning
DESTINATION PORTUGAL
Alentejous
buzz as you sit down to dinner somewhere like The Evora Hotel before an overnight at The Hotel Convento do Espinheiro (which, as its name suggests, is a former monastery now restored to a five star hotel) Next day we visited the picturesque village of Monsaraz, and two more wineries at Adega da Ervideira and Herdado do Esporao, which is reputably the largest vineyard in all of Europe, before moving on to the vineyards of Carmin and a night stopover and dinner at the Hotel da Moura.
A Gerry O’Hare in undiscovered Portugal Alentejo: a different, less commercial Portugal views, quiet roads and gourmet restaurants at affordable prices. Add to that the many wineries where you can savour the region’s many organic and home-grown products, and it’s the stuff of a foodie’s dreams. Ireland is now transformed into a nation of wine drinkers but, while we take almost all our holidays in wine-producing countries, and imbibe the product marvelling at the low cost, our knowledge and confidence in wine is often quite poor. One of the best ways of understanding wine is by visiting vineyards and either getting a tour or simply sampling the wines on offer and learning the differences between the grape varieties. Some countries are better than others for this – in Australia and California the wineries are fully geared up for visits and many have restaurants
and other attractions. European wineries tend to be significantly smaller in scale and there is almost never a charge to taste the wines.
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ou will generally be greeted by the owner or a member of the family – often the eldest daughter or the wife of the eldest son. Don't be afraid to ask questions as producers are generally passionate about their subject and are happy to show you around and explain how they make their wine. Co-operatives in Europe are often excellent places to begin your wine tasting adventure as you will not feel the same obligation to buy wine if you dealing with employees rather than family members. The same could be said of large
commercial wineries. If you are travelling by ferry and plan to bring a large quantity of wine home there is no limit on buying alcohol but customs must believe it is for personal consumption so it would be wise to leave the white van at home. So this year if you are holidaying in Portugal, why not take the opportunity to learn a little more about the wine you drink at lunch and remember there is likely to be a vineyard within an hour's drive. Alentejo is dotted with wineries and with castles where you can stay overnight – a legacy of fending-off their neighbours, the Spanish conquistadors.
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ithin an hour of arriving at Lisbon airport, you can be enjoying lunch and a wine-tasting at Monte da Ravasqueira – a traditional estate where the local landlord planted his vines as recently as 1990. You can visit the vines, their cork trees, olive trees, bee-hives and also the specialist cattle and horses they breed here. The Adega da Cartuxa was our next stop and here again you will be impressed with the property and enjoy the wine tasting – but a word to the wise. Your hosts everywhere will insist on you sampling everything. So, by evening, there is a certain
fter a lazy breakfast of tropical dishes and cheese we went to the Herdade Grange vineyard. Yet another “must see” before lunch at the Hotel Gale Clube de Campo which (beside the obligatory wine tasting) has a spa if you feel the need to sober up after lunch. We took a jeep ride to Heradade da Malhadinha Nova (a restored, cobblestoned village with tiny houses and a couple of restaurants) similar to the village at Bunratty for an evening meal and stayed overnight at Herdade da Malhadinha Nova. Finally, and our last vineyard was and lunch was at Heradade dos grous and a city tour of Beja.. Our final night was yet another imposing castle the Pousada Estremoz, a royal palace from the 12th century. The accommodation was definitely fit for a king or a queen. In four days we had visited and stayed at the premium vineyards and impressive accommodation before the journey home to Ireland. Dare I say it. We were well fortified...
n Aer Lingus flies daily from Dublin to Lisbon and twice weekly from Cork (commencing 1 April). One-way fares start from €49.99. For more information, visit www.aerlingus.com n Hotel Convento do Espinheiro. info@conventodoespinheiro.com, Horta da Moura:josealves@hortadamoura.pt Herdade da Malhadinha, Pousada Don Alfonso.