Another 15 hour touring day-partly because we were once again near Spain, and mostly because the bus driver didn't use his GPS system till we were almost 2 hours late for our first appointment. Men! ha

That first visit was worth the wait. Quinta de Azevedo is one of the largest wineries in the country with wineries in other parts of the world. (We get the Gazela brand in Indiana.) The family estate is enormous and carefully restored and maintained to reflect the look it had in the 1800's. It was spectacular.

We tasted 3 of its wines in the 14th century tower. The view of the vineyards and gardens was as satisfying as the wines.

2010 Quinta de Azevedo Vinho Verde Branco 11%-part Lareiro part arrento.

Fresh nose, nice fizz, bit of sulfur as it was just bottled 2 weeks ago (This has been a problem at all of the wineries. Newly bottled and sulfur at top-needs to blow off before real aromas release) when it did open showed nice aromas and flavors of mango and pineapple.

2009 Morgadio da Torre Alvarinho-elegant dry white; green tea on the nose, green apple and HUGE mineral mid palate and finish. Delicious.

NV Gazela Vinho Verde 9%-the sweetest of all the VV's we've tasted this week but still an easy drinker in a sharp package.

We toured the house after the tasting and ended up in the downstairs kitchen with a roaring fire, cheeses, breads and wines. Then they pulled out an old bottle of MATEUS!! We all recalled our first experiences with the wine-most of us were underage and it involved a date-ha... we thanked the owners for those happy memories and for the wines.

Next stop Afros-a biodynamic winery with a rock star or soon to be one winemaker, Vasco Croft-he looks like Richard Gere and oozes the Steiner philosophy...his wines are sensational as well.

It started to rain as we arrived. So umbrellas in hand we tromped thru the vineyards to see the compost pile and the soils and then into the wooden storage house to see the biodynamic preparations he uses on his 22 hectares. Then into the home. Another family house-very old and charming. Stone walls, tile floors. Another roaring fire. And plenty of hospitality. We started with the Sparkling Loreiro Spumante Vinho Verde. Delicious. Crisp, bright with mango aromas, not yeasty, just clean. Delicious with rye bread spread with salmon, caviar and mango slices.

Lunch was a feast for all senses. We sat at a round table covered with Portuguese embroidered white tablecloth, terra cotta tiles on the floor, granite walls and a view of the vineyards. Fresh white camellias on the table. Modern cut schloss zweigelt glasses. The food was cooked in the family kitchen by the women who had been Vasco and his brother Rodrigo's family cook when they were growing up. Rodrigo is the business investor while Vasco makes the wines. Vasco studied to teach the Rudolf Steiner method in schools in England and became enamoured with the biodynamic concept. The family home had vineyards, so as a hobby he redid the grounds to get the demeter certification. His wines have won numerous awards and honors and he is not shy about telling you about them. But in a charming way. Back to lunch...

First course we tasted his 2009 Afros Vinho Verde. clean, clear, subtle hints of vanilla and nice minerality. It was custom paired with the dish. Grilled langostinos and fresh herb salad with local apples and a vinaigrette made from the family's bee/honey collection. (Earlier in the day several of the journalists requested NO MORE bacalhau!! the local fish-that is chewy and tough and tasteless unless it is fried, or in olive oil. We had eaten it almost twice a day for the past three days....) The minerality of the wine held its own with the bitter greens and acidic apples. Then it got a bit more citrusy when consumed with the tender grilled langostinos. Fabulous pairing.

Main course: Wild boar, garlic and onion sauteed turnip greens (with salt-FINALLY a meal with seasonings!!) and "acorda (SORE-DUH)" kind of like a stuffing-made from breads with mushrooms. The boar tasted like veal-earthy, rich-the bitter greens and lush sorda were a complement as well. And when paired with the 2009 Afros Vinhao it was a winner.

Vasco only grows lareiro and vinhao. He calls them the "Sharon Stone and Jack Nicholson" like wines. He is a character.

His Vinhao was smooth with a cedar nose and lots of black fruit. One of the best vinhao's we have had during the trip. He ages it for 8 months in new French oak with high and medium toast. The wine is still coming together but would be outstanding with any type of beef. ( I think it would ROCK the menu at St Elmo's or Ruth's Chris)

Then a treat, a Sparkling Vinhao-deep ruby red with subtle hints of blackberry. We had this with dessert-a dense chocolate cake filled with jam made from the vinhao grapes and served with fresh black and red raspberries, blueberries and currants. All of those flavors show up in the Vinhao.

Next came a sample of Fortified Vinhao. WOW. This was like liquid vinhao jam-it made you want to go back by the fireplace, get comfy and forget about the remaining wineries and airline flights and snow to face in the upcoming days....

We also got to taste the family fortified lorairo-very smooth with nose of vanilla and chestnuts-sloow deep burn in the throat but oh so smooooooth.

By now we were all deliriously happy and of course it was time to go. We had a good time in the bus coming up with new names to put on t-shirts to promote Portugal tourism. "It's Better with Bacala"... "Our fish is pig"...were some of our favorites. And we had time to come up with many as the driver once again, got lost.