Day 6 - May 9, 2009

Today we continue south to the Algarve but enroute we will stop in the region known as Alentejo. This region has many cork and olive trees, of which we will have seen thousands. I didnot photograph any this time around. The signage in this part of the country is very very small, as a matter of fact we zipped past the tiny sign indicating the winery before realizing we had to double back about 15 minutes to find the place which was in fact on the other side of the road, under a bridge and down a goat/shee path.

Finally finding the winery or "adega" called Malhadinha, we stop for a tour and tasting. WOW! Paolo and his wife and his brother run this little winery with accompanying little hotel and spa and restaurant. This fellow is all about quality, right down to the spieglau tasting glasses, sans stems, in the tasting room. Robert Parker has already bestowed this winery "promising high end winemaker". Malhadinha is a small winery that will only focus on top quality wines with very little production. The children have created the wine labels which are cute and folksy.http://www.malhadinhanova.pt/ing/index2.html

I was in my personal heaven because it was like meeting Jack Cakebread before his Napa winery became very popular...this Paolo will go places with his wine.

After the tasting we continued on to Albufeira which is the tourist spot in the Algarve. It was described as being the Portuguese Mexico and I totally get it. I won't spoil it for anyone reading this, but let's just say Albufeira really doesn't represent Portual in its best light. We were on our own for dinner, so the old farts rented a car and went to Valle de Lobo to eat at the "chicken shack". Actually it was a great restaurant, loosely modeled after Swiss Chalet, that served rotisseried barbque chicken cooked al fresco. The restaurant can seat at least 150 and it has a secondary venue across the street that can hold another 150. Crossing the street to your car can be hazardous to your health, so I would recommend moderate consumption of alcohol.

We decide to leave the next day as a free day before we go out as a group for dinner.