I went to my first Wine Fair Berlin last Sunday. It takes place over three days at the Messe Nord/ICC which is at the other end of Berlin from where I live. I settled down in an U-Bahn and got out to find Thorsten waiting for me on the platform. Regular readers know he is a computer specialist who helps people each Monday afternoon in a Meeting Centre opposite to where I live.
He managed to get Free Tickets and asked me if wanted to go. It took less than a second to say, ‘Yes’. There were many people there. I was surprised. On entry you get a wine glass in exchange for €5 and then off to explore the wine stalls. They were from many countries and represented family wine vineyards. We tried different kinds of wine before finding three stalls from family producers in Portugal.
I confess to knowing almost nothing about wine production in Portugal. I know Spanish, Italian, French and German. I have only been to Portugal once and that was to Lisbon for a week to attend a conference. I cannot remember anyone telling me about local wines. I asked a lady for information at a stall and she answered me in English! She comes from England but is now part of the family which owns The Azamor Family Estate in Alentejo in the middle of Portugal.
We tried different red wines from her vineyard and all we could say was..’Mmmmhhh’ after each sip. Wonderful round full aftertastes. You can get information about her estate on the internet. Just type in Azamor.com and also look for a shop that might sell her wines near where you live. I bought a bottle of ‘single estate’ red wine. I am meeting my Kowalke Gang for a long, lazy lunch on Saturday and plan to share it with them. I should have bought two bottles 🙂