Impromptu Tour of the Duaro

Today kicked off at 8 and we had a lot to do despite the fact that no fruit will be coming in for a week or so. The first of the lagars was almost ready to empty and the other needed to be cooled a bit. Fermentation and maceration are only given four days start to stop. The juice is a really dark black color and the lagars are almost overflowing with the cap pushed up. While waiting for the sugar to get down to the right level, which was only a matter of hours, Jorge decided to drive out to the vineyards to take some samples. As we pulled out of the winery he asked me if I had my camera, at which point my stomach dropped because I had left it in my backpack. Let me tell you if there was ever a day to not forget my camera today was that day. The drive out took the better part of an hour past valley after valley of terraced vineyards. The hills look barren from the bottom because they are so steep you cant see the terraces from that angle. From the top they look like a topographical map with the lines getting farther apart towards the top instead of getting closer. There will often only be 1 to 4 rows of grapes per terrace because the hill is so thick. What it must take to farm these locations I have no idea. Because of the heat, lack of moisture, and warm breezes no spraying is needed, but all of the work still has to be done by hand. One of the most impressive things was the amount of acreage under cultivation and all of it on some of the most impossively steep slopes. Everywhere are drystacked stone walls and tiled roof houses built the same way. Even the wire posts down the rows are split panels of schist. Truly incredible to think of the amount of labor that must be poured into this area. And every once and awhile we would turn a corner or I would happen to look up hill and there would be these little mountain communities clinging to whatever someone decided was far enough from vertical to build on. I would suddenly find us winding through cobbled streets with two story walls on either side as we labored in low gear through another village. Or pop out on a ridge top with views of the Duaro and beyond right in front of me. Other times Jorge would be passing someone next to a cliff around a blind corner. This area reminds me something of Cuzco, Peru. And if anyone has seen the terraced gardens of Macchu Picchu then they will get some sense of how steep things are. But even the old houses, the rock work, the tiled roofs, it reminds me of colonial South America at times. By the time we arrived back at the winery it was 2 in the afternoon, I was starving and we still had a lagar to move, press, blend, and clean. Needless to say it was another 11 hour day and tomorrow should shape up the same way.

Winery Moment: This morning as we were chilling the brandy "Killing me Softly" came on the small radio we have in the corner. It is mostly pop music but most of it is pretty good actually. It was just me and Nuno in the place at the time and suddenly I hear him singing along. Now, Nuno speaks a few words of English and Spanish so we get along fine, but I would never expect him to know an American pop song. Sure enough he knew every moment. I was struck by the absurdity of it for a second and then decided to make it a duet. We both got a good laugh out of it.

Portugal 2009

well, for those of you who didnt know I am in Portugal working the harvest for a port winery called Quinta do Tedo. I arrived yesterday after many sleepless flights and was surprised to find out that the harvest has already started! It seems the grapes ripened early this year and the crew had already started processing fruit. I was shown my room which is in a house just up the hill from the winery and told to be at work at 9 am the next morning. I awoke in the dark to Jorge, our winemaker, banging on the door downstairs telling me that it was time for lunch! It seems I had slept through my alarm and since the windows here are shuttered I had slept 15 hours. No one seemed to care though and I was grateful because I was very tired. Today however, went till 10 pm and I can only imagine how tired I would be had I been at work at 9. I cant wait to post pictures of the winery and the views becuase this place is gorgeous. It is nestled at the meeting of the Duaro river and the Tedo river. Everything here is extremely steep and the vinyards are terraced on the steepest slopes I have ever seen farmed. Today was all Tempranillo, but I am told that the Duaro is a very diverse valley with over 60 different genetic varieties. So far everything is in lagars, and they still do maceration by foot, eight men at a time for four hour shifts, very traditional. Tomorrow will be a little bit more relaxed I just hope I can wake up on time.