Yesterday I spoke of our unhappiness with Portugal. Today was a day when Portugal was fantastic. When you take these trips you hope everyday is like today was.
The day started out pretty routinely. As I mentioned last night we received a last minute invitation to visit and stay at Herdade do Rocim winery near Cuba. We were about to give up on the region and head back to the coast but instead went out to this winery for the day after they confirmed they could give us a place to stay for the night.
After a quick final stop in Evora to give François a much needed bath we headed towards the winery. We had told them we would arrive around 2 pm but found ourselves at the winery around noon. Rather than arrive too early we decided to head into the nearby town of Cuba to see what we would see.
It turns out Cuba is a nice but very quiet country town of a few thousand people. But today was a big day for Cuba as a brand new Intermarche Supermarket was opening. When we first got to the town we noticed that all of the traffic and pedestrians were heading in one direction toward the Intermarche. So we followed, and joined the crowd there. While in the store we were approached by a group of high school students who hit us with a blast of Portuguese. When we explained we did not speak Portuguese the leader sent one of the students off to find another student who spoke English. She told us they were soliciting for a raffle to win a coffee maker to help pay for their class trip. The cost of a ticket was €1 so we donated a euro because we would not be around to collect our coffee maker if we won.
Having contributed to the senior trip for the high school in Cuba we headed to the winery for our tour. When we arrived we were the only vehicle in the parking lot of a very beautiful winery.
When we went inside we were introduced to Elena who was to be our guide for the day. As we went around the winery her knowledge of the Portuguese wine industry, and the local grapes and growing conditions was very impressive. She had detailed knowledge of climate, grapes, and details about farming that we assumed she had acquired over many years. One thing we noticed is we crossed paths with another young lady several times during the tour and they always spoke English with each other so I told Ton that the other girl must not be Portuguese.
As we sat down for our tasting Elena told us they had some extra wine for us to taste as before we had arrived they had been practicing opening wine with a knife. The technique is to strike the top of the bottle with a knife just below the cork which if done right causes the top of the bottle to break cleanly. I asked her if this was a Portuguese thing, and she said no it is just cool. Later her colleague had her show us how it is done, which got us another glass of wine.
At this point I asked Elena where her colleague was from and she answered Portugal, so I asked why they were communicating in English, and her answer astonished me. Elena is Ukrainian and had just arrived in Portugal two months ago from Kiev because of the war. What an astonishing young lady, not only was she dealing with being displaced from her homeland, but in a couple of months she had learned so much about Portuguese wine and the region that I assumed she was a native. It turns out she was in the wine industry in the Ukraine and had a vast background about wines in general that she was able to apply to Portuguese wine. The winery is hosting her and her daughter and mother on site. Ton and I were blown away. Elena is hopeful to return home with her family after harvest this year and we really hope it comes to pass.
The rest of the afternoon was a pleasure of tasting very good wines, and having great conversations with Elena and a Portuguese and American couple who are having there wedding here on Saturday.
As I am writing this we are sitting in the middle of a beautiful winery enjoying sunset after having met an incredible person who made us realize how very lucky we are. If you see a bottle of Rocim wine anywhere (we understand it is sold in 30 states) I highly recommend you buy it, as the wine is wonderful, and the people behind it deserve your support for taking in Elena and her family and giving her a chance to show her incredible knowledge of the wine industry while giving her family a safe place to live during these troubled times. We were humbled to meet her.