At DOC- DMC we are not winemakers, but we are wine lovers. We believe that whoever loves wine, also loves to discover!

In Portugal there is still a considerable amount to discover. Historically, Portuguese wine has slowly gained traction outside of the country’s borders, but as a result of a new generation of winemakers rediscovering the many autochthonous grapes which give a unique character to Portuguese wine, our fame has begun to spread like wildfire.

Our team at DOC-DMC has come a long way in organizing events, incentives and trips. This know-how combined with traditional gastronomy and the beautiful countryside makes wine trips to Portugal an irresistible choice.

This is why we are sponsoring the EWBC. We are fully aware that Portugal needs all the help it can get in spreading the word about our local treasures. From our varied and distinct traditional cuisine to our vast and changing landscapes, we can only hope that you as bloggers will fall equally in love with our wine, food and culture as we have.

And how do we convince you of our unique treasures? We will bring you on a full day adventure on Sunday through the wine regions of Setubal and Terras do Sado, where you will visit 3 wineries varying in size and style, a traditional tile factory and dine on a vast array of traditional Portuguese foods. It is our hope that by the end of your trip, you will not only have a fundamental understanding of these two regions, but also a desire to come back and visit again. Full Schedule of Sunday Trip is listed below

What else can DOC-DMC offer a passionate wine lover?

• Gastronomic trips to Portugal for individual travellers or small groups to all well known DOC Areas from the Minho to the Douro and from the Dão , to the Ribatejo, Alentejo or the recently “re-animated” Algarve.
• Offers for weekend stays combined with a round of golf, or even a relaxing day spa.
• Events related with wine: team building and wine courses, eno-gastronomic dinners or wine tastings in charming settings.
• “Winelands of Portugal “, are travel books which will allow you to discover the best wineries, cellars or other selected tasting venues of the most important DOC areas, as well as a choice of restaurants in order to enjoy the best of local gastronomy. Based on the suggestions of “Winelands” you will also be able to make your own itinerary choosing from the suggested venues, enjoying wine tasting, lunch or dinner using the vouchers included in the travel book. This product will be available on the internet this year and is currently sold in the reception of over 30 of the best hotels of Portugal.
• Moreover we are the exclusive dealers of the Enomatic Wine Serving Systems in Portugal, a technology we import from Italy which is a leading product for conserving and selling wine by glass.
• Our small selection and distribution of “Vinhos de Quinta”, wines with an excellent price – quality relationship produced by smaller wineries. Similar to a boutique sales, “Vinhos de Quinta” has found clientele among Lisbon’s best restaurants and hotels who love to introduce and discover new brands and tastes of Portuguese wines.
• Clube Doc aims to promote the Portuguese DOC Areas and wines to people in Portugal. Be it a gastronomic dinner to discover flower and fruity notes in red wines, an excursion to the unknown wine area east of Lisbon, or a trip to the wine harvest in Douro, the Clube Doc Calender organizes monthly gatherings!

We are elated to have you join us, and hope that we can be a resource for you if you should ever have questions about the wine, food and culture of Portugal!

Sincerely,

The DOC-DMC Team

Schedule:

09:30 – Pick up

10:15 – The Day will start with a visit of the prestigious winery “Bacalhôa Vinhos de Portugal”, which is the result of nearly 82 years of dedication to the production of wine. The innovative character of this winery is the combination of tradition with state of the art technology, which results in an annual average production of nearly 12 million litters of wine. This magnificent winery is part of the “Grupo dos Sete” (Group of Seven), a unique organization which gathers seven of the most significant private companies of the Portuguese wine industry. The winery is owned mostly by one of the most important Portuguese patrons of modern art, José Berardo and has a large art collection spread all over the property. Finalizing the visit you will have the opportunities to taste some of the renowned Bacalhoa Vinhos.

11:30 – We will next visit the historical and traditional winery José Maria da Fonseca, a family run business established in 1834, with a background of two centuries in the art of wine making. Piriquita is their most famous brand, in fact ,the first of all table wines produced in Portugal. A further hightlight of the visit will be the Moscatel Wine cellar with thousands of precious well aged bottles or this sweet fortified wine. This winery indeed has some stories to tell !  A tasting of several of their red wines and of course Moscatel  will follow the visit, accompanied by the no less famous cheese and the traditional bread of this charming village.

12:30 – Our next stop will be by the “São Simão” workshop, where the ancient tile painting tradition is still carried on to this day. We will be able to see the artists at work and thereby learn some of the secrets of this trade. The exhibition rooms display glazed tile panels and porcelain pieces decorated with the patterns and colors of the 18th century.

13:30 – A fantastic buffet, prepared by the famous restaurant Alcanena, is awaiting us now. On the table you will find a selection of Portuguese cheeses, sausages and smoked meats, 16 traditional cold salads, various soups as well as several different Portuguese meats and fish, such as hare with white beans, partridge pie, pork meat Alentejo style, duck rice, fried entrecote with rice and beans, seafood “açorda”, spiritual codfish, calamari Algarve style and many others. But the meal is only finished after the dessert: egg pudding, milk cream, chocolate mousse, almond cake, orange cake and cheese cake are some of the delicacies we will be able to taste.

15:30 – When this superb meal is finished we will proceed to the nearby winery “Horácio Simões”, in order to taste the Moscatel de Setúbal and the Moscatel Roxo, still made in traditional grape presses, as well as the Aguardente Velha.

16:30 – Return trip to the hotel.

Please note that we will have a sign-up page in the coming month that will let you choose from the trips available.

Amorim is the world’s largest natural cork company, selling three billion closures every year to thousands of wineries in all continents. That may sound mammoth, but with 468 million Euros in annual sales, we are a tiny speck when compared to what some plastic and aluminum companies can sell. As such, we try to make sure the closure debate continues to move away from the one-sided, almighty “I can deliver perfection in this world” initial phase to a fact-based approach, bringing the debate to more rational levels and leveling the playing field.

Amorim has been a supporter of the conference since the very first edition of the EWBC and have never doubted that Ryan, Gabriella and the whole team behind that original Rioja event, were right in identifying the blogosphere as a key medium going forward. As mentioned before, we need to level the playing field when discussing wine closures, and the blogosphere is the great equalizer.

We are opening the Amorim doors to opinion makers that have often discussed wine closures but, in many cases, have not had the chance to collect first-hand, critical information about cork and cork forests. We will visit cork forests where Amorim sources its raw material from, follow the material through different closure production steps, including visiting the world’s largest wine stopper manufacturing plant, and finally, talk to the people that make this entire process happen. In addition, we’ll taste some delicacies from those cork forests while sipping some local wine. So we are taking the whole gang onto a bus for an encompassing and informative visit, while having the first closure debate on wheels. We want that debate to be no-holds barred; consequently, bring all of your questions, concerns and confusions!

9h00 – Pick up at VIP Grand Lisboa Hotel

10h00 – Visit Lagoalva (Cork Forest and Estate)
Its long history as a wine producer can be seen from the fact that in 1888 it was present at the Portuguese Industrial Exhibition with 600 wine casks.

The estate, which formerly belonged to the 2nd Duke of Palmela, has passed to his descendants and is now the property of Sociedade Agrícola da Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima, S.A. The 4th Duke of Palmela introduced horses and bulls to the estate in 1909. The estate’s Lusitano horses were bred from brood mares of the National Stud (Coudelaria Nacional), later improved with the use of stallions from the stud owned by Manuel Tavares Veiga.

12h30 – Lunch at Lagoalva with a Tejo D.O.C. region’s wine tasting
The Portuguese Government has announced the new D.O.C. region of wine production. Tejo is the a new region according to the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture. The new region is a requalification of the former  Ribatejo region (now  Tejo).  The new Tejo region will offer wines called Vinho Regional Tejo. And, it will offer six sub-regions Almeirim, Cartaxo, Chamusca, Coruche, Santarém and Tomar. Tejo has 20,000 metric acres of wines growth, offering about  10 million certified bottles a year.

14h00 – Visit to AI Coruche
In this unit, as large as several football fields, huge quantities of harvested cork planks are stored for seasoning, right before cork initiates its production processing. At this recently-inaugurated plant, you will be able to see first-hand some of the quality measures designed and implemented by Amorim to produce a high quality product as demanded by the market.

15h15 – Return to hotel