Last month, when my parents were in town visiting, I took them on one of my favorite local winery tours, the Manor House Museum Tour of José Maria da Fonseca. Easy to find on their website, this legendary Portuguese winery offers daily tours of the founder’s original estate and winery located in the town of Azeitão, just 40 minutes outside of Lisbon in the Terras de Sado wine region. For a small price, you can walk through the antique cellars that still hold their famous barrel-aged red, Periquita and their 100+ special reserve Moscatels de Setubal, while learning about their illustrious wine-making history. At the end, you offered a tasting of 2-3 wines, normally consisting of a white, red and Moscatel.

Being my second visit to the estate, and having already savored some of their whites and Moscatels before, I was looking forward to tasting a red. That paticular day, they had the 2004 Domini, their flagship Douro red produced under their Domingo Soares Franco label with the partnership of Christain Van Zeller of Quinta do Vale Dona Maria. This unfiltered wine aged three months in new oak is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinto Roriz (Tempranillo) and is a beautiful deep red-purple with the aroma of dark fruit, leather, earth and wild mushroom, which I love and have come to encounter in many Douro reds - reminding me of lovely right-bank Bordeaux reds. The palate is more of the dark fruit, plums and black currants with smooth but persistent tannins.

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Feel the chill in the air, the earthy aromas of dried leaves and wet soil, the vibrant orange and red colors on the tip of the leaves like small dabs of paint radiating from the deep dark green background? Sigh, this is my favorite time of the year. I love to fill a thermos with hot tea, chocolate, or better yet, mulled wine; layer myself in flannel and fleece; and enjoy a day in the mountains basking in the warm heavy glow of the September sun. The brisk winds rustling the dry, cracking leaves is like music to my ears.

The magic of autumn brings a sense of warmth in my belly, as it calls for heavier and richer foods able to coat my stomach with a sense of fullness. Bright orange pumpkins and vibrant yellow and green squash begin their debut in homes across Spain, and when added with a touch of oil and garlic, how could anyone not be happy?!

Fall is also the time for the time of the harvest, when bodegas across Iberia kick into high gear to begin the grape picking process. Purple hands can be found across the peninsula, harvesting both red and white grapes with the most gentle of care, hoping to preserve every single ounce of flavor from the vineyard to the bottle.

And so far, I am happy to announce that the harvests in both Spain and Portugal are shaping up beautifully. Despite the hail storms that affected several areas throughout Ribera del Duero and La Mancha last year, whereby reducing the production of red grapes by 20% for some bodegas, the quality of the grapes themselves are being reported as outstanding! This decrease in production is also being seen as far east as …

It’s been a busy the past few months, because Spain is finally waking up to blogging; and we’re excited to be a small part of it. I’ve been buried in two new websites, while trying to maintain a few others. All good news for our small growing enterprise. Today, we head off to Oporto, to consult with a small port house on launching the first ever, blog about port wine. To be honest, we’re really excited about this, and we’re hoping this might lead to some purple feet if we need to visit in the near future.

But for now I want to fill you in on a few experiences I’ve had over the past week. First up, Cork!

Catalan Cork Institute

Just a quick note about my visit to Catalan Cork country, and  promise more with pictures when I have more time. I do want to say thank you to the Catalan Cork Institute, and Juan Botey Serra whose 300yr old property I fell in love with. (lot’s more pictures to put up on flickr too)

Some of you might remember our experience visiting the largest cork producer in the world last year called, Amorim. The experience, to our great surprise, was an eye opener for this cork doubter, and so I couldn’t pass up a chance to see a smaller version right here in our backyard. The Catalan Cork Institute invited Catavino to see their operations north of Barcelona in Costa Brava to explain the differences between the big guy and the small proud guy. Sadly Gabriella was getting her wrist wrapped in Gesso and was unable to join my friend Richard and I, as we traipsed through the thickets of Catalan cork country.

So, what surprised me? While cork is still produced in …

On the Train to Valencia!
As I write, we are heading down south to the warm, sunny beaches of Valencia. We’ll be visiting with a few key people from the wine tourism industry along with a new client, who is just starting out in the world of exports. Interestingly, they own one of the largest nursery’s for vines in Spain; hence, it will be fun to see how they are grown and prepared for the vineyards. Beyond all of this, we have a tasting with an old friend whose book we reviewed here a few months ago.

We’re both excited to be able to come down here after many months away to taste new wines, as Valencia really is one of those regions that is too often overlooked, while producing some of the most exciting wines in Spain.

Joining the Rest of Iberia
Now that the weather is officially blistering hot, and Iberian businesses are closing up shop at 2pm, we felt it was appropriate to follow suit by cutting down our posting to approximately 3 times a week. I say approximately, because our correspondents now located in Andalusia, Beijing and Lisbon will be contributing as well. But keep in mind that this is only until September when we’ll return back to our normal 5 days a week publishing schedule. Hopefully our decision will help to encourage you to get outside as well this summer, far away from blinking cursors and television sets Side note: we are still looking for a correspondent in the US, and are open to anyone who has a passion for both Iberian wines and writing. Please drop us a line if you, or someone you know, …

It’s been awhile since we really blogged. You know the original blog post, a wrap up of the blogger’s life and ideas that pop in their heads. Usually we write in a more educational manner trying our best to educate. Today is different. This weekend we had a perfect storm of visitors. Our old roommates from the good old days when we lived in Madrid were in town for the long weekend, which inevitably meant lots of fun foods and some unexpected card games of Liar. A wonderful weekend, as well as an opportunity throw down on a few meals since I had such an attentive audience. First night, it was port brined pork loin (that’s a mouthfull), followed by Country chicken paired with roasted purple potatoes and green beans with walnuts and cured ham the following night. Both meals deserved pictures and descriptions, but alas, the food disappeared before I had a chance. For those of you with a grill and some gumption, however, here’s how to cook the the Pork(everyone’s favorite)!

Combine in a large pot, or bucket, the following: 1 x3lb-5lb piece of whole pork loin, 1 bottle cheap Port wine(ruby), a few cloves, a few sticks of cinnamon, 2 bay leafs, a cup and a half of rock salt, a cup of sugar and half a nutmeg nut chopped coarsely. Cover the meat with cold water and let sit for approximately 8 hours.

When the meat has finished brining, get a very hot two stage …