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Wines of Portugal Tasting

With Vancouver hosting the international wine festival once more, and it is all the Vancouver food and drink scene is currently talking about. It is a good time to recap one of my more recent tasting experiences, prior to the festivities of this week.

In the beginning of May I had the privilege of attending the Wines of Portugal Seminar and Tasting, open exclusive to industry professionals and media. The event was co-hosted by the consul general of Portugal in Vancouver and made for a great warm up and prelude to the tastings to come.

Guests were invited to peruse the room, chatting with wine aficionados and enthusiasts as they explore plenty of wines and ports coming out of Portugal. There was a total of 230 wines and 33 wineries at this smaller scale tasting, alone. And we got to try some labels, which at the time were not yet made available in BC.

My biggest take away was the variety of elevations and terrain available in Portugal. And how said regions of Portugal dictate the types of grapes they grow, how they would/could flourish, and how they will eventually affect the vintage and bottles of wine, they end up in.

And because Portugal’s wine culture is some what less known and advertised as say BC’s Okanagan or California’s Napa Valley, many of their grape varieties have yet to make it anywhere else in the world. In fact there are over 250 varieties of grapes indigenous to Portugal. Resulting in Portugal’s 9 major wine regions each effected by the history of the area, as carved up by the taste of its grape varieties, its climate, and the soil that is affected as a result.

The following are some highlights by way of photos, because seeing is the next best thing if you can’t drink it yourself.

 

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