I was very fortunate to be hired for a couple of years by Enoforum Wines to advocate for Portuguese wines. Part of my PR job actually took me to Portugal, so I could learn about their culture. Any civilized culture includes their wine history. Portugal’s wine culture took serious root, when the Romans invaded. These greedy warriors needed their libations, after a hard day’s work of plundering… (My use of the word “civilized” now seems so trite, right? But, really, that’s what they did… moved in, took over the land already occupied, and forced their old world onto the new one.)
Meanwhile, much of Portugal’s splendor was laid before me. My traveling companion was Gwendolyn Alley of Wine Predator from the US, and Enoforum people: Delfim Costa, Luis Ribeiro, and Isabel Ramos. I also got to attend the European Wine bloggers conference. These were great experiences…
At the time, I didn’t have video capacity with me, but I did have my still camera, and I shot everything in site.
My favorite video slide show that shows a typical wine vineyard and winery setting is the one I gathered from my Carmim visit. In Europe, sheep roam through the vineyards, olive trees are part of the vineyard landscape, as are cork trees.
Cork trees are part of the oak tree family, if you didn’t know this one (I didn’t until I visited). Acorns are, therefore, part of the package, as are the feral black pigs that forage on the nuts. These pigs are allowed to run free, until it’s time for producing Portugal’s deliciously famous black pigs dishes.
This video is called: Enoforum Wines Visits Alentejo’s Carmim & Requengos de Monsaraz. Enjoy!
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