Tuesday 9th October 2024
A
tour of the area out of Lisbon has been planned today. After a frustrating
search for wineries and restaurants, two things became obvious. Firstly, it is
impossible to just arrive at a winery and have a tasting. You have to book a
tour operator; sit on a bus with 20 others; put up with another explanation of Portuguese
wine making; grape variety; family history and look at the bloody barrels etc.
The second thing is that the wineries don’t always promote their restaurants,
if they have them.
So,
after much cursing and Googling, Flashy eventually found a winery an hour north
of Lisbon, called AdegaMae Sociedade Agricola. This is a stunning, multi
million Euro constructed shop, tasting room and a highly regarded restaurant, Sal
na Adega. We managed a booking and planned a long lunch and some wine tasting.
After
conferencing with the Lads, it was decided to book a private car for six hours
to take us to the winery and do a little coastal sightseeing on the way back.
This way, we could stop for comfort stops when we wanted and refreshing
beverages if we got thirsty.
Francesco
turned up at 12.30 in his taxi. No meter
but agreed €170 for the day. Despite his loose fitting jeans and open neck shirt
he was a nice chap. Off we go, up the A8
at 130 kph, through some country that look a lot like Australia, complete with
gum trees in the hills.
AdegaMae
is an amazing winery. Lots of concrete and glass, on a hill overlooking the valley
of vines. Very modern interior, again with concrete, glass and marble. The
staff all had excellent English and we joined a few diners in the spacious
dining room.
Knowing
that we couldn’t do a wine tasting, Flashy cunningly ordered three wines, three glasses each with small pours and conducted a tasting of
Viosinho, Chardonnay and Vioginer from the winery’s list an ‘at
table tasting.’ Group vote - Chardonnay the favoured one, so a bottle was ordered.
The
food was a selection of tapas and quite generous ones too. Alheric balls with
sesame seeds, Codfish ceviche, golden fried cod fish cheeks, large garlic
prawns and at the end a delightful cheese platter with a bottle of their most
excellent Cabernet Sauvignon.
Francesco agreed to take us along the coast road back home and we drove through some lovely scenery, stopping at a lookout on the bump in Portugal that is the most westerly point of Europe. Just in time too, as we needed to purchase a beer, get the receipt and bar code to use their toilets.
We were running out of time
by this stage but Francesco insisted in showing us a blowhole on the coast.
Interesting and another beer. Then through what looked like the Sunshine Coast
of Cascais. Lots of modern hotels,
apartments and restaurants, right on the beach. Arriving back after 7.00 pm, we
all agreed it was a great day, completely in our control and not on a bus.
Not
hungry, but thirsty, we headed into the tourist strip for a share plate of lamb
and some excellent red wine, before a nightcap at the other Pestana Hotel
across the road.
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