It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

I know what you are thinking.

Editor: If they are already thinking it, then you don't have to say it.

You're thinking, "Glen, if this is a wine tour, when do we get to the wine?"

Editor: Just ignore me, I suppose.

We get to the wine at 11:30 am.  At least the first winery.  After picking us up, Joao (aka John) went through the day's schedule, including the first winery tour and tasting at 11:30am, then lunch, and then the second/final tour tasting at 2:30.  Then he said, "It's five o'clock somewhere!"

(I'm paraphrasing here. . .work with me, today is Thursday and that Sunday. . .I don't remember exact quotes), "I love that expression, I learned it from Americans and use it all the time!"  So I had to play him a snippet of the Alan Jackson/Jimmy Buffett song of the same name.

Anyhow, to keep a long story long, our first winery, Bacalhoa, was an experience.  It is owned by a multi/multi-millionaire with more money then sense.  We could tell from get-go -- near the front of the winery, there were a whole platoon of Terracotta warriors, but all painted blue.  That's not something every rich person has.

(Not that I'm shilling the blog, but click this link to read about us seeing the real Terracotta warriors in China.  Editor: let's face it, you ARE shilling the blog!)

And his love of unusual blue things weren't limited to Terracotta warrior knock-offs.

"Bac" is the winery mascot.

Short for Bacalhoa, the

name of the winery.

Editor: People figured it out

They ain't stupid, you know.

I could use sarcasm here, but it turns

out the owner is a great admirer of 

Mr. Lincoln.  As are we, so sarcasm

gets bottled up, like good wine.

He (the owner, not Honest Abe) get major kudos for saving olive trees that are 2,300 years old (yes, you read that right -- from before Jesus!).  A dam was being built, and would have flooded out the trees.  He had them replanted to this winery.

In case you are wondering what 2,300 year old

olive trees look like, they are even more

amazing than you imagined.

The winery reminded us a lot of the last winery we visited in the winelands outside of Cape Town in 2014.  (Editor's Note: A China blog link AND a South Africa blog link in the same post?  Show-off!  Writer: I do what I can!)

The tour was a lot more interesting than I expected.  The highlight was the humongous barrel room (remember when you were a kid and "humongous" was an indispensable word? Good times!)  Hundreds of oak barrels laid out in a cool room with many old blue tile scenes.  We were allowed to wander throughout the large room (the tour was us and another couple who didn't want to talk to us, which is fine).

(Editor's Note: Of course a wine barrel room is cool!  Writer: I meant the temperature, but both meanings work.)

Is there any room more impressive

that includes Portuguese tiles and. . .

wine barrels?

Let me help you answer. . .

No, there is not.

Alas, Chez Bolger isn't big enough

for a room boasting Portuguese

 tiles and wine barrels.

Even with the kids out of the house!

We then marched into another room with barrels.  These were not cool (temperature wise!) because they were the Moscatel, which is NOT Muscato wine.  Moscatel (pronounced "MUSH-cuh-tell) is fortified, and has grown on me this trip, which coffee has never done.

Then the final stage of the tour was to see the owner's impressive African art collection, which includes a gate from India.  We are not sure how he got out of South Africa with all the art, and how he got the gate out of India.  I don't really care for much African art.  Before you call me racist, we really enjoyed the aboriginal art museum in Melbourne, Australia.  It's just not my thing.  Heck, there's plenty of art by white artists that don't do anything for me (fine, call me troglodyte. . .if the shoe fits!)

India Gate, from, um, India.

(Editor: South Africa, China, and Australia links all in the same blog post?  Preposterous!  Writer: And I don't make a cent on any of this!)

 

The tour ended with a wine tasting (Editor's Note: Shocking!  Must be the first time ever a winery tour ended with a tasting.  Writer: I got nothing in response.)  The wines were all good. . .including the Muscatel.  

Carol liked the vino!