Enobytes

As Rupert Symington’s BMW became smaller in the distance and Paulo professionally navigated the van away from Quinta do Bomfim and toward our first stop for the day, something Rupert said the previous evening was still stuck in my head. As Rupert spoke about the marketing challenges for Port wines in the future he mentioned [...]

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Getting up early after an eventful evening in Gaia, Portugal made departing the fantastic luxury surroundings at the Yeatman Hotel difficult. Knowing that my journey into the Douro would bring knowledge and adventure and probably a whole lot of things I could not anticipate made the departure somewhat exciting. It was made a little easier [...]

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Quinta de S. Jose Douro Riverside Lodge, Tasting Room and Retreat Douro, Portugal On a recent trip to Portugal I met the most wonderful family—Joao Brito E Cunha his wife Sofia, and most importantly his mother Teresa and father Ruy who exemplify the tightly knit social structure among the wine grape growers and wine producers [...]

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Barcelona was frustrating to me upon arrival. Of course, it should have been after leaving the tranquil and idyllic surroundings of Bilbao. This assessment goes sharply against what I had expected, from the many tales of wonder that I had been regaled with by everyone who had ever been there before me. In our planning [...]

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A couple of posts back I mentioned taking a trip south with Jeremiah the Bullfrog and Toonces the driving cat. Toonces wasn’t a very good driver until GPS came out, but now he is good to go. As we departed Umpqua Valley to head north towards Broadley Vineyards tasting room, our GPS led us up [...]

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As we departed Hacienda De Abascal in Ribera del Duero we pointed the Renault Clio down the narrow driveway.  We turned west on N122 because we wanted to try the restaurant Bodegas Arzuaga at the hotel that sets across from Bodegas Vega Sicilia. As I made my way down the driveway, I was still perplexed [...]

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