MarySMW

I am making plans to return to Lisbon Portugal next month with my husband who has a conference to attend. It has been over 8 years since our last visit and I am feeling secure about my travel plans since we have been there before the Euro was introduced.

I have the hotel, rental car, guides and some restaurants all lined up. but I am still looking for good suggestions for vineyards to visit within a few hours of Lisbon. There is a lot of wine info on the Internet to sift through and few of my friends are familier with Portuguese wines other than port. I checked with my local wine shop and the owner only knew about wines from the Duro area which is more north than I want to go on this trip.

If anyone has a suggestion on a good winery or two to visit please let me know. I am hearing great things about the Alentejo area, but do not want to drive a few hours to visit a tourist trap with average wine. Hoping there is a little secret discovery in this forum.

My other question is about these women that we saw all over Lisbon the last time we visited. They were dressed all in black, usually with a shawl over their shoulders, and sometimes in was pulled over their heads like a hood. At first we thought they were gypsies, but then we saw them working in stores, which did not seem like gypsies. Then we thought they were traditional people from the country, but later we saw the colorful dress of the countryside and that did not fit. So, now we are assuming that they are part of a religious order that allows them to marry and have kids, kind of like a liberal group of nuns.

Just curios who these ladies are and why they dress in total black all the time. No one in Lisbon could tell us the last time we were there.
Thanks

Sher

Hi Mary. I cannot answer your question about the black clad ladies.
But you might be interested in
www.jmf.pt
We have had their wines and they are very good. They also offer tours of the winery which we did not get to visit but looks lovely.
You must remember that many of the quintas that produce wine in Portugal are not really set up for tours.
There are many realy good wines produced in Portugal
This winery is located near Setubal and it is doable from Lisbon.

robertino

Widows?

MarySMW

Sher,

Thanks for the winery info. I will try to do a trip report and let you know how it goes at JMF. You are right the Portuguese wineries do not seem as organized as other wine producing countries like Italy and France.

We have been preparing for our trip, trying wines from different regions of Portugal with dinner and what a surprise this has been. Many of the wines are as tasty as they are unique in taste. For anyone who likes big red wines, the Portuguese have an amazing selection that seems to get over shadowed by all the rage over their Port.

I am not a big fan of whites however we have found this wonderful vintner in Monte Branco which is about 1 hour south of Lisbon. They have a wine called Alento that has inspired us to take a tour of their vineyard. Their website leaves a good impression and I am hopeful that it will be worth the trip.

asalamy

I believe they are indeed widows, as robertino suggests. I recall seeing them in Portugal (mostly around the port/ocean towns).

Sher

Hi Mary. I found that many wineries are represented in Co-operatives like the one in Borba. And this is really true of the Dao wines which are wonderful.
It is not like visiting a vineyard. What you get is a representative selection of many of the wines in a particular area and they are offered for sale in a large warehouse setting. But it is very pleasant and the prices are very good.
The problem is that we just do not receive many offerings in the US from Portugal. I don't know if the production is not high or they just consume most of the wine and do not export it. Of course, in the New York City area, you would have a better selection. And therefore our education of Portuguese wines must be on the spot.
I believe that JMF makes one wine called Perquita. If I remember correctly it is in two levels one being a reserve. The non reserve is very pleasant and available in every market and quite reasonable. Also, an every day table wine which we enjoyed is Monsaraz. It is quite tasty.

This last time we visited the Port Wine Institute in Lisbon and it was very enjoyable. They have a huge selection of ports available and it is kind of like a private club in there. The problem with that also is getting many of the selections in the US. But heck. Just go and have them for the sheer enjoyment. They are missing the boat on wine tourism there. They seem to be catching up a little in the Alentejo.

I always say I will make more time when we go for certain things and the time always gets away from us. I will be looking forward to your reporting back. You will find this interesting maybe. On our second trip we stopped near Estremoz at a Lidl store which is the German competetor of Aldi. I picked up a reserve Dao for about E3 just for a lark. I wish I had cases of the stuff right now. It was delicious. Goes to show.

You will love Portugal.