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Food & Drink in the Algarve, Portugal
what to drink during your stay in the Algarve
The Wines of Portugal - the Brighton Roadshow
Bom Dia
So this month the great Portuguese wine roadshow of Wine Educators International reached Brighton, its penultimate destination for 2007 but just before I write about that, if you are in the area do come and see us, and taste an excellent range of wines with us at:
Cardiff International Arena 8th & 9th December
You will have to pay a small fee to get into the actual event but our tastings, 4 each day, are all  completely free - and you can come to as many as you like! If you would like any more information, just email me at wineeducators@aol.com or call us on 01327 354480.
As at Torquay we again added our `sampling' stand, allowing everyone at the event to taste even if they could not get to, or into, one of the tutored tasting sessions; and again to add authenticity to this we had a very welcoming Portuguese lady on the stand to assist and advise. Once again our tutored tasting programme and stand featured the following wines:
Borges Fita Azul Reserva Seco
Segada Tinto 2004; Ribatejo
 Ramada Tinto; Vinho da Mesa
Ramada Rosado; Vinho da Mesa
Ramada Branco 2006; Ribatejano
Jose de Sousa Tinto 2001; Alentejano*
Terra de Lobos Tinto 2004; Ribatejano*
Quinta de la Rosa Dourosa 2003; Douro*
Quinta de Simaens 2005; Vinho Verde*
Quinta de la Rosa `Tonel 12' 10 year old Tawny Port
Vale da Clara Rosado 2006; Douro
Borges Late Bottled Vintage Port 2003
[Some useful contact numbers if you are searching for these or similar wines are shown below but the four marked * above are all available from Waitrose stores or on-line at Waitrose Direct.
D&F Wine Shippers - 0208 838 4399; Fields, Morris & Verdin (part of the Berry Brothers & Rudd group) - 0207 921 5300]£
 We were again able to have a very professional looking theatre at the show and there was a good deal of interest in both the wines and tastings from the many visitors present. So you really must try to get along to Cardiff in December and see for yourselves - you may well pick up some ideas for your wines for Christmas. There we will be adding a number of additional wines, many new to the programme so we'll report back on this event in the new year.
 Specific comments from those attending our tutored sessions in Brighton, and talking to Veronica on our stand, included:
The Quinta de la Rosa “Tonel 12* 10 year old Tawny was adored by most of the people, and the Borges Late Bottled Vintage Port was also very popular.
Borges Fita Azul Reserva Seco - the tasters recognised a good relationship between price and quality.
Terra dos Lobos, Quinta de la Rosa Dourosa and Quinta da Soalheira were all recognised as being very good reds.
 I have recently commenced hosting wine courses at Denman College near Abingdon, which you may know is the residential college of the Women's Institute. So, twice in the past few weeks, we have been able to introduce the ladies (and one intrepid gentleman) to the delights of Port wine at the course seminars there.
It was the first time that most of the delegates had attended a  wine course let alone discovered the facts & delights of Port Wine. I was able to show them the excellent, entertaining video from the Port Wine Institute so that they could see the reality of the Port being produced and also the wonderful scenery of the Douro and explain the different styles of Port and their terminology. Amongst the wines tasted, the Dow's Master Blend Late Bottled Vintage 2000 (now 2001 in Tesco) was greatly appreciated. Just for educational purposes, we also looked at a bottle of Vintage Port 2003 from Borges. Obviously far too young to drink and appreciate yet, it does give an understanding of just how vintage Port develops and changes in its bottle.
We have another course scheduled at Denman in May of next year (Wines of Europe) and at that time we will be including an in-depth look at Portugal and some of its other great wines and classic grape varieties. We are also planning on hosting food & wine matching courses there. If you would like details of these courses, or indeed any of our others, do please contact me.
 On a completely different topic, I have just returned from a few days in the beautiful Polish city of Krakow. I was delighted to find that Portuguese wines are quite prominent on the restaurant wine lists here. Wine is not inexpensive in Poland, certainly relative to eating & drinking generally, but Portuguese wines are often amongst the lowest priced - making them exceptionally good value (as we have long preached). I enjoyed bottles from both the Douro and Dao regions with either my pierogi or duck and other Polish delicacies; making the cold trek through several inches of snow very worthwhile indeed!
Until next time
Martin
Wine Educators International
www.wine-educators.com
A reminder of other forthcoming wine events featuring Portugal:
8th to 10th February 2008 - Dillington House, Ilminster, Somerset
13th to 15th June 2008 - Higham Hall, Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria
If you would like to know more about Portuguese Food and Drink, why don't you dip into our Restaurants in the Algarve section and our series of articles on Portuguese Wines and Ports. We also feature some Traditional Portuguese Recipes and a glossary of useful Portuguese food & drink words and phrases
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