Alentejo is the largest region of Portugal and is known for its strong gastronomy and wine culture. The wine region has in total 22,000 hectares (54,362 acres) and is a vast, rural area of flat plains, cork oaks and olive trees. The flatness is broken by the occasional “Monte” or low hill on which a large estate or small village is located.

The Alentejo was the standard bearer for Portugal’s wine revolution, adopting modern winegrowing methods with great results and international critical acclaim. The region has excellent whites, but is best known for red wines which are generally full-bodied, fruity and suitable for aging, its DOC sub-regions are Portalegre, Borba, Redondo, Vidigueira, Reguengos, Granja/Amareleja, Moura and Évora, with Regional Alentejano wines becoming evermore popular. In the last decade, wine tourism became more popular and today this is one one of the preferred destinations in Portugal.

The departure will be from the VIP Grand Lisboa Hotel in Lisbon on the 1st of November at 8:00 AM. On the way the group can enjoy the beautiful landscape and the first stop will be at Quinta do Mouro in Estremoz. The property was bought by the Louro Family several decades ago and releases wines since 1994.  Here the group will do a guided tour with the owner and will be able to taste a selection of internationally acclaimed wines.

At 11:30 AM the group will depart to Herdade do Esporão in Reguengos de Monsaraz, where they will visit the vast winery, taste selected wines from their portfolio, and enjoy a traditional Portuguese lunch.

Herdade do Esporão is situated in a place blessed by nature, with a typical and idyllic Alentejo landscape, at about 2km from Reguengos de Monsaraz, and it is one of the most prestigious wine productions in Alentejo region, widely known for the quality of its wines.

Esporão Estate is an historical place, with its territory formed since 1267, and preserving up to these days some important heritage, like the Tower of Esporão, built between 1457 and 1490, one of the most important towers built during the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era, and a symbol of the Estate, present in all the products.

At 17:30 the group will arrive at the VIP Grand Lisboa Hotel.

We hope you truly enjoy this trip and, because it is just a taste of the region, we hope this will be the first of many other visits to Alentejo.

ORGANIZATION
The CVRA was created in 1989 and is a private and interprofessional regional controlling board, responsible for the application of the Alentejo wine regulations. The Commission monitors the quality of the wines, guarantees its authenticity and promotes the image of the collective brand “Wines of Alentejo”. The CVR Alentejana supervises the use of the DOC Alentejo and IG Alentejano on bottle labels and controls the issuing of its guaranty seals. The head-office is located in Évora, a designated World Heritage site by UNESCO.
The Commission also runs the Alentejo Wine Route, promoting the development of Wine Tourism in the region.

To get to know more about the wine region, visit: www.vinhosdoalentejo.pt

To see photos of the Alentejo, please download this pdf.
Contact at CVR Alentejana:
Maria Amélia Vaz da Silva
Tel: +351 266 746 498
Mobile: +351 927 140 044
Skype: maria.amelia.vaz.da.silva
Email: m.amelia@vinhosdoalentejo.pt

Cortes de Cima has been a supporter in the form of wine of both the #EWBC 2008 and the #WBC 2009, and we were also the first Portuguese winery to start a winery blog over 1 year ago.

I think my first post from our blog sums it up nicely as to why we believe so strongly in these events:

Cortes de Cima is renown in Portugal as a pioneer and even a renegade. Perhaps because we arrived here as foreigners 20 years ago (Hans the winemaker is Danish, and I, the marketing manager, am from California) we’ve always tended to do things differently, even sometimes, downright ‘illegal’. We were Portuguese pioneers in creating our winery website back in 1999, and again pioneers in being the first winery to sell online. By once again being pioneers in Portugal by starting this winery blog, we will endeavor to live up to the Bob Dylan quote, printed on the back label of our ‘illegal’ Syrah wine,’ Incógnito’ – ‘To live outside the law you must be honest’ . We hope to give you an ‘honest’ insight into the daily goings on here at Cortes de Cima, even when we are a bit ‘outside the law’…(more on that later!)

Where Your Adventures Begins

We will start off with a guided vineyard and winery tour at Cortes de Cima, to work up your thirst and appetite. As the olive harvest, is sure to have started, you should also have the chance to see olive picking first hand!

Next, we will serve lunch based on the local Alentejan specialties, local lamb, fresh goat cheese, stone oven bread, and of course Cortes de Cima’s own extra virgin olive oil!

To accompany the buffet lunch, we will open the full range of our wines and do a live wine tasting with the winemakers themselves on hand! You can log onto our wifi in our tasting room, and Twitter while you Taste! (Don’t forget to enjoy the breathtaking views from our tasting room across our own vineyards and the rolling Alentejan plains!)

Afterwards, we will visit a nearby village, Vila de Frades, where the Roman tradition is still alive of making wines in old clay pots, or ‘Talhas’ (like the pot we use on the Cortes de Cima label). Goat cheese artisans and bread makers using stone ovens are also nestled behind the picturesque village walls, for those who want to have a quick peek!

Also in Vila de Frades, and not to be missed, are the amazing ruins of S. Cucufate, one of the largest and best preserved Roman villa in the Iberian peninsula.

If you are driving, plan to stop in Évora on the way back to Lisbon, a unique UNESCO world heritage site!

Transport: If you have your own wheels, it’s a 2hr drive from Lisbon. http://cortesdecima.com/tourism/visit-us/

Alternatively, take the train (www.cp.pt) and we will arrange a pickup and drop-off from the Cuba train station, 15 mins away.

• Lisbon – Gare do Oriente Departure: 09h10 Arrival to Cuba: 11h19
  • • There is also an option of leaving the Entrecampos station, near to the VIP Grand Lisboa at 9:21. More info here)
• Cuba – Departure 17h33 Arrival to Lisbon – Gare do Oriente: 20h36

If you would like to join us, simply sign up on our Open Wine Consortium Event page.

And if you need any additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at: wine at cortesdecima dot com or on twitter at @cortesdecima

Originally, we had warned that prices would increase on September 1st. But as Europe is only now waking from its restful summer slumber, having been drinking mojitos under swaying palm trees, we felt it was only fair to extend the date of registration before prices increase.

But that doesn’t mean you should wait until last minute to purchase your ticket. As businesses and families alike get into their normal routine, we anticipate registrations to increase dramatically!

Don’t let September get the best of you without registering for the EWBC. Sign up TODAY!!

What does your ticket include?

• Discount on a hotel room (which includes breakfast) at the VIP Grand Lisboa – location of the EWBC
• 2 sponsored lunches
• 2 sponsored dinners
• 2 sponsored grand tastings
• A full day of winery visits in 1 of the 3 Portuguese wine regions: Setabul / Terras do Sado, Ribatejo or Alentejo
• A full day of sessions on everything from monetizing your blog to videoblogging 101
• Enormous amounts of networking opportunities
• A chance to taste wines from across Portugal
• An opportunity to attend the Douro Boys Press Junket trip to the Douro after the conference
• And much much more!

So go HERE and reserve your space before someone else does!!

You don’t need to go to Porto, or the increasingly famous Douro Valley, to get some of Portugal’s best wines. You can do that in the country’s capital, which also offers an opportunity to discover lesser-known labels from wine regions nearby such as Colares, Azeitão, and Alentejo. When in Lisbon, these are the five wine shops to look for:

1. Manuel Tavares Found on a street connecting Rossio and Figueira squares, this gourmet shop dating from 1860 specializes in Portuguese wines. It doesn’t look very big when you step inside, with an interior cluttered with bottles, cheeses, and a variety of regional products, but there’s a wine cellar downstairs which is not always open but that the friendly staff opens for clients especially interested in the wines. Once downstairs the staff essentially gives you a history lesson on the different labels and wine regions, pointing out vintage bottles going for hundreds of euros, to more recent and less expensive choices.
2. Napoleão There is more than one Napoleão wine shop in Lisbon but the most central of all is found downtown on Rua dos Fanqueiros, 70.  It’s also the most attractive, with Roman ruins visible through a glass floor. The staff is friendly and multilingual, and always prepared to help you choose the right Portuguese wine for any occasion.
3. Garrafeira Nacional Offering the best of Portuguese wines in downtown Lisbon since 1927, Garrafiera Nacional has a rustic interior and so many kinds of bottles that it looks like a wine museum. The grand total is over 4,000 Portuguese wines, including ports which the staff can arrange to be shipped anywhere in the world.
4. Adivinho Number 24 of Travessa do Almada in downtown Lisbon was where a French couple decided to renovate an 18th century building and open their own wine shop in 2004.  Advinho offers labels from all over Portugal which clients can sample in the free tastings or paid seminars.  If you end up buying a bottle, it can be shipped abroad.
5. Wine O’Clock Opened in 2007, this is the most modern of all Lisbon wine shops and its elegant space is worth the trip uptown to the Amoreiras district where it is found. Wine O’Clock is more than a wine shop, organizing workshops and offering wine-related books, magazines, and films.  Also of note is the space with top-quality cigars and the good selection of international wines in addition to the Portuguese labels. [More information on Wine O'Clock, including an interview can be seen here]

For all other shopping options in Lisbon, see the http://www.golisbon.com/shopping/ Go Lisbon shopping guide.