Hold the Line...and Retreat

There’s nowhere to hide now: summer is here, rain is a faded memory and the grapes have to fend for themselves in the burning sunshine.

Yup...we still haven’t watered them...but they’re generally looking pretty good.

Most of the 1,000 vines got a good soaking when we planted them in April, but perhaps not all...and so Krishna has taken it upon himself to keep alive those which are clearly struggling by deploying the hosepipe individually.

But apart from that, we still haven’t turned on the irrigation system.

That seems to be making a difference where it’s needed, but it’s all part of the brinkmanship around our tough love approach.

The hope remains that they will head deep down into the clay searching for moisture (rather than hanging around for it near the surface) and give themselves a really good start in life...particularly if they have to live with drought in the future.

While the temperatures have been breaking records inland, our proximity to the Atlantic Ocean (7km as the crow flies) keeps the heatwaves at bay.

While they’ve been pushing 45C in the interior, we’ve barely scraped above 35C (and rarely over 30 at all), but all the greens on the horizon are nevertheless being baked to brown.

We’ve had some morning mists which dampen leaves and give the plants a little boost, but otherwise they’re living off the winter rains, their one big watering and the little drizzle which has drifted by since then.

We have lost a few plants – maybe a dozen – but there are also others which are struggling...and I’m not entirely sure why.

The plan is not to plough the soil between the rows, but the weakest plants appear to be those in an area where Portuguese spreading grass has a strong foothold. It’s a small patch of the vineyard, but an annoying one.

I don’t know if the grass is the symptom or the cause, but in other areas – without this weave of grass and only a few weeds – the vines are going nuts and I have to try and work out how to guide them to grow.

Should they be grabbing the bamboo poles and heading up? Is it alright if they grab each other for support? Should I be putting in bigger posts? Will they be OK heading horizontally along the ground?

If you’ve any suggestions, advice, or ideas please let me know! Every day continues to be a school day.

The whole point of planting the grapes is to learn – they’re all Portuguese varieties (Castelão, Arinto & Alvarinho) and will become bush-vines rather than be trained to grow along wires.

Winemaker friends continue to have different opinions, but we’ll do what we can for the guys.

As you probably know, our journey into discovering Alentejo’s wines and winemakers began with our podcast series Ana & Al’s Big Portuguese Wine Adventure which you can find here, and everywhere else podcasts usually linger…

Episode 1: Starting local

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May 4, 2024

Our part of Portugal is known as the last wild coast in Europe and it’s a beautiful place to start a podcast series on Portuguese wine.

I’m still battling to finish editing the interviews and winery visits I have stored on my hard drive, just waiting for a week of loving attention to weave into some more episodes, but it was nice to reflect on how far we’ve already come at the hotel and restaurant association awards gala we attended a few weeks ago.

AHRESP represents tens of thousands of businesses across Portugal, and it was a huge honour to be shortlisted in the media category for the podcast series.

Thanks to all of you who voted...I know many of you took the time and the faff to cast a vote...but sadly we didn’t win.

We really didn’t expect to win and we were just delighted to be there for a fascinating night out at the Estoril Casino west of Lisbon – the place which apparently inspired Ian Flemming to write Casino Royale for James Bond.

The event was all glitz and glamour...a nice contrast from our country living.

We met some fabulous fellow-nominees and hopefully inspired a few people to listen to our take on Alentejo wines, wineries and history.

I hope to get some more episodes out once our summer rush at Vale das Estrelas is out of the way. If you’d like to keep up with what’s happening in the valley...and with our latest addition Ronnie, please sign up to receive updates from my other blog Off-Grid and Entertaining in Portugal.

AND LAST...but by no means least..we still have some spaces available for our next Wine Retreat with the Hutchins Wine Academy here at the Valley of the Stars in October (1st-5th).

The first one was held in May...and it was a rip-roaring success.

We had a mix of self-proclaimed wine beginners and a couple so obsessed with vinho they called their dog Pinot...and a qualified sommelier also join the course run with the Hutchins Wine Academy.

Joanna Hutchins led the masterclasses, teaching participants how to “Taste Like a Somm,” blind-sampling “noble grapes” on her way into the wonderful world of Portuguese wine – with its 350 grape varieties, many of which are a lot easier to drink than they are to pronounce.

Would-be wine aficionados used Joanna’s wine compass to learn how to talk about what they’re tasting, before learning which Portuguese grapes relate to the famous varieties they prefer.

There were what-goes-with-what classes and a wine-pairing dinner along the lines of “what grows together goes together” and then participants were encouraged to define “their core wine identity” at the end of the four day retreat.

We kept everyone well fed and entertained between classes, with a Portuguese wine story-tasting and a trip to the nearby Vicentino for a tour of the vineyard and new winery by its fabulous winemaker Ana Rita Bouça.

We were blown away by how so many people from such different backgrounds bonded over the (many) bottles.

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Aged from 30 to 90, participants travelled from as far away as North Carolina and Shanghai to this wild west coast of Portugal’s Alentejo and tasted well in excess of 50 different wines.

We had ex-journalists – a former BBC colleague – business folk and a fabulous American couple who have recently retired to Portugal from the US.

It was a first for us all, but we were delighted with the way it went...and the wonderful feedback we received from the pioneer gang of wine retreaters.

And the next one running from Thursday 1st until Monday October 5th will be even better. Here’s some downloadable info:

We already have a few folks interested and the last one filled up pretty quickly, so please get in touch if you’re interested and we’ll give you all the details.

Alternatively you can go to our website and there’s a load of information there along with a form to fill in and send over to us. Come as a group of four people sharing and we’ll give you a 15% discount!

We also have another course lined up for the Spring in 2027 which will run from May 13th to 17th.