Alentejo com História e Colombo era português!
As planícies alentejanas vão ser em breve invadidas por jornalistas estrangeiros e winebloggers, que participarão na terceira edição da Vinipax, de 24 a 26 de Outubro, em Beja, uma mostra de vinhos de produtores do Sul de Portugal. Esperamos ter a oportunidade de conversar e mostrar os nossos vinhos a numerosos jornalistas estrangeiros, incluindo Kristine Baeder (Alemanha) e Peer Holm (Alemanha), Sarah Ahmed (Reino Unido), Romain Batha and Lylian Turmes (Luxemburgo), Jorge Lucki (Brasil) and Freddie Grimwood (Canadá), que foram convidados a participar nesta experiência relacionada com os vinhos do Sul de Portugal.
Poucos dias depois, as Cortes de Cima abrem as portas da adega aos wine bloggers de todo o mundo que vêm assistir à 2ª Conferência Europeia de Wine Bloggers, que decorrrerá de 30 de Outubro a 1 Novembro, em Lisboa. Em directo da adega, teremos um Wine Blogging ao vivo, onde os wine bloggers terão a oportunidade de provar os nossos vinhos e, simultaneamente, comunicar através do blog ou do Twitter com outro grupo de wine bloggers que estarão na Sala Ogival, em Lisboa. É enorme o nosso entusiasmo em levar a cabo este acontecimento inédito em Portugal!
Esperamos também que, ao visitarem estas magnificas planícies alentejanas, os visitantes estrangeiros se sintam envolvidos pela longa e impressionante história destas paragens. Muitos homens célebres estiveram aqui antes de vocês! Júlio César impôs aqui a sua ‘Pax Julia‘ no ano 48 d. C. – dois milénios atrás. António Raposo Tavares, natural de Beja, foi um dos grandes exploradores coloniais e bandeirantes da América do Sul. Outro filho do Alentejo, Vasco da Gama, que descobriu o caminho marítimo para a Índia, estabeleceu-se aqui como Conde da Vidigueira em 1519, depois de regressar da sua épica viagem.
Mas, sem dúvida, o mais famoso filho do Alentejo é, ironicamente, conhecido em todo o mundo não como alentejano mas sim como italiano de Génova! Cristóvão Colombo nasceu em Cuba, uma vila vizinha da nossa!
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Adegga
Domingo Dezembro 6th, 2009
“About C.Columbus first of all, before I forget! Actually I have forgotten most of what I have in the past read about him, but I do remember (I’m nearly sure it was Salvador de Madariaga’s book) that the consensus seemed to be that he was a Portuguese Jew living in Genoa – Jews were heavily persecuted by the Inquisition, even when they ostentatiously flourished their Christian Convert Credentials. He died in Cuba though – the real Cuba, not the Alentejo one – which was then called Hispaniola. So why did they call it Cuba afterwards? Not knowing, can’t say. But the controversy is not about to go away, as only last week in El País there was a review of a recent book proving beyond doubt (or beyond the doubt of the author) that he was actually a Catalan! His wife Filipa was the daugher of Bartolomeu Perestello, one of the Captains of Porto Santo (that small island off Madeira). It is supposed that Perestrello gave him (CC) some Portuguese maps which encouraged him to cross the ocean blue in 1492. But against that many Portuguese historians say Rubbish, D. João 11 and his mariners knew perfectly well that CC couldn’t get to Japan going west because they had already discovered Brazil, which was rather in the way, but they were keeping this info under their hat in case the Castilians went off and pinched it when no one was looking. We knew some Perestellos, their mother was English (nursed a Portuguese aristocrat in the British Hospital when he had broken his ankle and Bingo…) there were 4 children, and they lived in a simply beautiful old manor house somewhere near Torres Vedras. Well, so did their Porto Santo ancestor come from Cuba? Apparently not, because CC’s father-in-law was Italian, who had left Italy and become a merchant in Lisbon, before sailing off to help discover Madeira and being rewarded by H. the Navigator with a Capitania on Porto Santo. So the Alentejo has perhaps to be content with that old villain (cruel and inhuman man who tortured and massacred all the Indians who got in his way) Vasco da Gama.!” Janet Reynolds via email.
Domingo Dezembro 6th, 2009
Janet Reynold’s history credentials are solid: she is the wife of retired Lisbon Attorney Martin Reynolds and also is an authority on Vasco de Gama, having written a text-book on his History. Her Mother was the well known British Authoress Elizabeth Cadell, who lived the majority of her life in Portugal. Her only sibling, John Cadell, was the youngest Admiral in the British Navy during his time, serving as England’s NATO Admiral in Naples and later knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Janet & Martin have 4 Children: their two Sons are both active in the Portuguese wine Industry.