Turning of the leaves and St. Martin’s Day

É dia de São Martinho; 
comem-se castanhas, prova-se o vinho.

(It is St. Martin’s Day,
we’ll eat chestnuts, we’ll taste the wine.)

It’s early November, and fall has finally caught up with the Alentejo. The long indian summer has come to an abrupt end, heralded by a snap cold northern wind and the sight of the vineyard leaves turning rustic hues of gold, brown and red – all the colours of a New England fall landscape.  11^th November in Portugal is the Day of St. Martin (Sao Martinho) and traditionally associated with eating chestnuts and having the first taste of the year’s new wines.  Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier who was baptized as an adult and later became a monk. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the man from dying of the cold.

So if you want to try our new wines, as well as the old ones, there will be plenty of chances during the coming winter months to do so!  Look forward to meeting you at some of them!

Lisbon, Nov. 13-16  Encontro com o Vinho - (The ‘must attend’  annual wine event.  A great opportunity to taste everything that Portugal can offer under 1 roof, and with the winemakers present themselves! Our winemaking team will be there in force! )

Lisbon, December 8th  Adegga Wine Market (We will be pouring our wines at this new consumer oriented wine tasting where you can taste and buy wines)

Cortes de Cima, December 12th    Annual Danish Christmas Lunch and Wine Tasting at the Winery (A lovely pre-xmas outing to the Alentejo to help you get into the yuletide spirit!)