Quinta Avessada Enoteca

The train station in Pinhau is decorated with painted tile murals depicting the life of the people in their vineyards.

We are in the heart of Favaios (pronounced ‘Fah-vi-oosh’) area which is one of the highest points along the Douro River.  It is also home to the Muscatel wine.  Port wines must come from grapes that are grown at a lower elevation so these grapes are essentially the same as for port but since they are grown at a higher elevation they cannot be called port.  Thus the name Muscatel.  It is a very sweet aperitif wine.

Lunch was served at the Quinta Avessada Enoteca and was an elaborate event with red wine, white wine and Muscatel.

We have seen some beautiful country as we travel from the river to the various vineyards.  So much of it is covered with vines but there are some trees delineating property and some of these trees are Sobeiro or Cork Oak Trees.

When you plant a Cork tree, you are planning for your grandchildren.  This is because it takes 25 years for the tree to have a bark that is thick enough to cut wine corks from but the first cut is usually a very poor quality cork so now you must wait another 9 years to get the next cut.  This will be a better cork but the very best will come after another 9 years. That’s 43 years before you can make money. Then the trees are marked with the year it will be cut again.  On top of that it takes a very talented and experienced person to cut the cork off the tree and not damage it.  If done right the tree will survive for 200 years.  200,000 tons of cork is harvested every year with 1/2 of that from Portugal.  NASA uses only Portuguese cork for insulation in its rockets.  Many other things are made from the leftovers of wine stoppers such as the cork purses I purchased as a souvenir.