The Food and Wine of Portugal
An introduction to Portuguese Food and Wine
Seafood platter
Enjoying good food and wine is considered an essential part of every Portuguese household and the Portuguese are notoriously fussy about the quality of the food that they eat. For most visitors to Portugal the restaurant will be the place to experience the dishes of the country.
We offer several pieces of advice for those looking for a good meal - the cheaper the restaurant the better the food, look first at the Pratos do dia (dishes of the day), order the Vinho de Casa (the house wine) and don't be afraid to send it back if its not to your taste, and most importantly, forget about dieting!....(More)
Cooking Holidays in Portugal
Food and Drink holidays in Portugal
Cooking Holidays
Nuno Calvet
Every food enthusiast craves the rapturous sensory experience that accompanies the first taste of a truly delicious dish. The moment when everything else becomes suddenly irrelavant and all that matters is the savouring of the flavours and textures that are melting in your mouth.
This appreciation of fine food and expert cooking is intergral to the Portuguese character, where every person, regardless of their income, regards eating well as an essential element of everyday living.
Every working man has a knowledge of the wines of the country, without any of the pretentiousness that stiffles this simple pleasure in many other countries. Every grandmother seems to have an innate ability to create the best cakes you´ve ever tasted....(More)
The Origins of the Port Wine trade
The History of Port Wine
Grape Gathering - João Paulo
The earliest English merchants to begin trading with Portugal shipped cloth and cotton to Lisbon and Porto and returned home with wine, fruit, sugar, salt, cork, honey and spices. Most of this wine was grown in the Minho country and bottled at Viana do Castelo and Porto.
As the amount of trade between the two countries increased during the 17th century a number of British firms began establishing bases in Porto and Viana do Castelo. The Portuguese love of dried salt cod led to large amounts of the fish being brought down from Newfoundland and exchanged for the wines.....(More)
Joseph James Forrester
The Port Wine Advocate
Joseph James Forrester
Joseph James Forrester arrived in Porto in 1831 at the age of 22. A cartographer and wine lover, he spent years mapping the Douro and earned a reputation as a fine landscape and portrait painter. He is most remembered for his impassioned campaign against the adulteration of port wines by British traders.
In the 1840´s the demand for port in England had declined leaving a surplus of port that was difficult to sell. Forrester claimed the reason for this decline was due to the large amounts of brandy, elderberry and sugar that British traders were adding to the wine.....(More)
Casa Ramos Pinto
The visual culture of Port Wine
Adriano Ramos Pinto
In 1880 a young artist named Adriano Ramos Pinto founded the Casa Ramos Pinto wine estate in the Douro region near Porto. Although only 21 years old at the time of founding the estate, Ramos Pinto rapidly became a best selling wine, accounting for half of the wine exported to South America by the early 20th century.
Partly this was due to the fine quality of wine grapes that can be grown in the Douro region, but it was also due to Adriano Ramos Pinto´s artistic eye and the innovative marketing campaign he launched to publicise the wine.
In 1886 Adriano invited his brother António Ramos Pinto, who owned a photographers studio in Porto, to become a partner in the company. António took over the commercial management of the company, allowing Adriano to focus on promotion and marketing of the wines....(More)