A Cerquinha
The producer elected by who appreciate superior quality products.
Amor é Cego
Amor é Cego is a dream, a dream of a family that, for three generations, has struggled to maintain a six decades old olive grove and produce the best 100% Galician extra virgin olive oil.
Amor é Cego is a brand. Amor é Cego is a company. Or better: Amor é Cego is a dream, a dream of a family that, for three generations, has struggled to maintain a six decades old olive grove and produce the best 100% Galician extra virgin olive oil. An oil with 0,1 acidity, cold extracted, balanced, and harmonious, shows the Galician variety qualities: “ripe, fruity, with notes of tomato and dried fruit and a slightly spicy finish.” The harvest is manual, and the olives are processed on the same day to preserve all the oil properties. Production is small in quantity but excellent in quality.
Carlos Serras
Lamprey, shad, saboga, barbo, mullet (fataça), crayfish, perch, and lucius are some of its main fish. The duo is the favorite of several chefs.
What started as a children‘s pastime has turned into a long and prosperous career dedicated to fishing and to the Tagus river. Carlos Serras is a renowned fisherman from Ribatejo. Due to his almost half-century river expertise, Carlos knows the secrets, the ways, and the species that inhabit the Tagus like few others. Lamprey, shad, saboga, barbo, mullet (fataça), crayfish, perch, and lucius are some of its main fish. The duo is the favorite of several chefs.
Casa Relvas
In its estates, sustainability, more than a watchword, is an ingrained practice.
Relvas, a family “with their feet on the ground”. Linked to agriculture for many generations, it is in his DNA to love life’s most simple things “like the company of a good wine at every meal, meeting or celebration.” In its estates, sustainability, more than a watchword, is an ingrained practice. Caretakers of large areas of vineyards, olive, and cork oak forest, are also sheep producers in an extensive regime. “A herd of 270 merino sheep that plays a vital role in our vineyards. From November to February, when there are still no leaves in the vineyards, the sheep are used to manage the cover crop leading to an increase in soil organic matter”.
Delta
Delta is one of Portugal’s most iconic brands.
Well-known for its coffee, the Campo Maior based company has broadened its horizons and is also producing wines and welcoming tourists at the beautiful Herdade dos Adaens. We found an aromatic herb garden at this special place where one can learn a lot about aromatic herb production and conservation.
Dona Maria
She is a local at Vila Nova de Milfontes Market where every day she sets up her stall full of fruits and vegetables.
“Of all the sellers,
The happiest is Maria,
Whom with her friendly talk
captivates the entire crowd!”
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A lovely poem by a close friend of hers is the best introduction to Dona Maria. She is a local at Vila Nova de Milfontes Market where every day she sets up her stall full of fruits and vegetables, most of them cultivated by herself, like the broccoli from which she collects the magnificent sprouts used in this recipe.
Herdade da Pacheca
Descendants of a northern family with a long agricultural tradition, Celeste and Sofia Ribeiro, mother and daughter, moved to the Alentejo in 2015 to start a pomegranate production.
The first fruits saw the golden light of the Alentejo sun in 2017 and proved that the Ribeiro women made the right move: the harvest brought pomegranates of the Smith variety with great quality.Here are the company’s contacts: +351 924 465 075 | +351 268 979 183, romaspacheca@gmail.com
Herdade de São Luís
For more producers like this: aware, informed, and determined!
At Herdade de São Luís, home of Porcus Natura, time, space and balance are the watchwords. Time to let cycles occur naturally, space for animals to move freely and balance between fauna and flora as one takes care of the other and vice versa. The animals of Porcus Natura are of the Puro Alentejano breed and raised in an extensive system of regenerative management. This means cattle raising improves soil productivity, making the pasture so excellent and abundant that it becomes a carbon sequestering agent, thus balancing the emissions caused by animals. For more producers like this: aware, informed, and determined!
Herdade dos Coelheiros
The Herdade dos Coelheiros draws great lessons from the past for its future.
The estate, located in Igrejinha, close to Arraiolos, is a patchwork of cultures and habitats that spread over 800 ha. “Model of what was a typical Alentejo homestead 100 years ago – not a monoculture but a mosaic of cultures and habitats -, Coelheiros celebrates heterogeneity and makes the most of the biodiversity it promotes and protects. The adaptation to Regenerative Agriculture began in 2015, with new grape varieties better adapted to our reality, decreased production, regeneration of the cork oak area, among other practices. Nowadays, no herbicides nor insecticides are used at Coelheiros”, states an official communication. Famous for its wines, “icons in the Alentejo”, the estate also has a walnut orchard with about 40 ha. It was one of the first extensive walnut plantations in the Iberian Peninsula, and to this day, it is still recognised for its excellence.
Pine Flavour
This week’s producer is a 100% national company founded in 2014 by two entrepreneurs committed to showing that the best pine nuts in the world are Portuguese.
Pine Flavour is recognised for the careful choice of its raw material and for a production process where technology, sustainability and rigour go hand in hand. Also, it must be praised for its work towards the certification of Portuguese pine nuts as a DOP product.
Find out more at www.pineflavour.com
Promert
Created in 2006 by a group of Mertolengos cattle producers.
Promert is the entity responsible for the commercialization of Mertolenga PDO Meat. Created in 2006 by a group of Mertolengos cattle producers, Promert ensures good practices in animal husbandry so that the final product is of superior quality.
Rui and Dina
They manage the family business since 1991.
Rui, the son of merchants, and Dina, the daughter of fishermen, have been together in life since the age of 15 and together in business for 30 years. They manage the family business since 1991, when they started selling in the Porto Covo market.
All their fish comes from the Sines fish market and local fishermen, and they always prefer the one caught by artisanal fishing. Their customers are so loyal that some have been buying for them for 20 years and others even travel 300 km every week to visit their stall at the market.
Sines fish market
The boats arrive at the pier loaded with fish, and then the catch goes out to the fish market.
The boats arrive at the pier loaded with fish, and then the catch goes out to the fish market where it is inspected to see if it meets the sales criteria (size, healthiness, etc.). Then the fish is weighed, divided by lots, and enters the auction. This is how sales are made fish auctions like Sines, where many markets and chefs supply themselves.
Terramay
All animals on the farm are raised freely, on healthy pastures, and in a stress-free and chemical-free environment.
On the banks of Alqueva lake there is a special place where the earth‘s time sets the pace. Terramay is a 560-hectare property comprising cork oak forest, biological vegetable gardens, pastures, and arable land, which aims to achieve self-sufficiency, carbon neutrality, and the ecosystem‘s regeneration. The farm‘s residents include Mertolenga cattle, Pata Negra pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, horses, and beautiful quails. All animals on the farm are raised freely, on healthy pastures, and in a stress-free and chemical-free environment. The farm also offers ecotourism experiences. Learn more at www.terramay.com
Terrius
In the heart of the Serra de São Mamede, in the Alto Alentejo, we find one of the largest biodiversity reserves in the Iberian Peninsula.
Following the assumptions of sustained production, it is here that several producers dedicate themselves to the land and its fruits. Terrius, a small family business, is one of them. It develops new products based on the quality and excellence of local raw materials. Dehydrated chestnuts, sweet chestnuts with fennel, smoked chestnut flour, and handmade chestnut biscuits are some of Terrius’ star products.
Ti Henrique stand – Estremoz Market
At the Ti Henrique stand, in the Estremoz market, you will find them ready to take home.
If you think it is simple to pick wild asparagus, we are sorry to tell you you‘re wrong. Finding them requires a trained eye to scrutinize them in the undergrowth and pick them up implies following a series of precepts, among them, being careful to preserve the plant‘s leaves so that new asparagus can be born. At the Ti Henrique stand, in the Estremoz market, you will find them ready to take home. He is the man who supplies the asparagus and others products for the chef!
Torre de Palma
There is no region of Portugal without vineyards, and there is no corner of Portugal without a harvest.
September is the culmination of a year dedicated to the vineyard; this month, the grapes are taken to the winery, the harvest’s profits are calculated, and we try to predict what the year’s wines will be like. And that is why this month, for so many families, has such a special meaning. The end of the harvest, and all the hard work associated with it, is a cause for celebration throughout the country, islands included. At The Art of Tasting Portugal, we take part in this celebration by highlighting grapes as a tribute to those who work in the vineyards to bring us this magnificent fruit to eat and, above all, to drink!
Here are the hotel’s contacts – Tel: +351 245 038 890, Email: reservas@torredepalma.com, Address: Herdade Torre de Palma S/N, 7450-250 Monforte
