Vineyards, Vines & Wines of Pico Island, Azores, Portugal. Episode 5

On this video we take you to discover the wine culture on Pico Island. We visit the wine museum, local wineries, traditional wine house(adega), pick grapes at our uncle's vineyard. We also do some wine tasting and have lunch in a couple of popular restaurants.

Pico Island has a long history & tradition of producing unique quality wines. The wine Industry is vital and integral to the island's economy. A large area of these unique vineyards are protected by UNESCO.

The first vine was planted back in the mid 15th century by a Franciscan Friar Pedro Gigante. Wine production continues to increase and is now being exported worldwide. The quality of the wine continues to improve; some winning awards.

What makes the Pico wines extremely unique are the lava rock walls. These walls were constructed to protect the vineyards from sea salt and wind. Later they realized that the rock walls also kept a lot of the sun's heat in. Therefore increasing the sugar content in the grape(higher alcohol).

There are various wine makers on Pico Island; Adega Czar, Curral Atlantis, Pico wines cooperative, Azores wine company and more. The 3 popular wine varietals of Pico are Verdelho, Arinto dos Acores and Terrantez. You can also find 30 other varietals throughout Pico and the Azores.

It is great to see the growth and popularity of viticulture on Pico. There has been a rebirth of old vineyards in the last few years; a project supported by the Government. Experienced wine makers continue to produce unique world class wines.

It is also amazing to see that the old traditional way of wine making at the Adega(small wine house) is still alive and well. It is worthwhile to do wine tasting in both the wineries and the adega; it's the only way to truly know what Pico Island wine culture is all about.

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In case you just discovered us through this video; here is a link to the beginning of our Journey.
https://youtu.be/BZzBROu1bbs

Thank you for spending some time with us; see you on the next video.
Carlos & Laura

Видео Vineyards, Vines & Wines of Pico Island, Azores, Portugal. Episode 5 канала Our Journey on Pico Island - Carlos & Laura