Snowy Alentejo

Not even the Alentejo was spared from the recent coldsnap to hit Europe. Following a spell of nightly frosts of up to -4º, we awoke on Saturday to a beautiful winter wonderland sight of the vineyards covered by a white blanket of snow.

As you can imagine, snow is a rarity at Cortes de Cima. The last snowfall we have on record was in January 2006 (picture below), and prior to that only in 1954!

Northern Portugal and the Douro are more likely to receive a winter snowfall than down here further south, as recently attested by Oscar of Quevedoportwineblog, the other Portuguese winery blog well worth following!

Winter frosts are always welcomed in vineyards if they are not too severe, as they can help to kill fungal diseases and insect pests. We would also welcome some more rainfall this winter, as our winter rains have been quite scarce to date, and the level of our damns are still far from being replenished.