Castelao

Today, we travel to the Portuguese Algarve. It's the part of the country in the far south known for its resorts and sandy beaches. The quality of life there is exceptionally high with the cost of living quite low, so it's a haven for retirees ... and for a red grape known as Castelao (a bastardization of the Portuguese word for parakeet) and occasionally as Perequita. 

To get to the area, we flew to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal and the part of the country that annually has the highest number of tourists. The Algarve region, however, is close behind in numbers and actually has far more money spent by tourists. Probably the combination of the beaches, the low cost of living, and a significant number of outstanding golf courses outweighs the history of Lisbon. 

We hopped on a puddle jumper to get from Lisbon to Faro, the administrative capital of Algarve, From there we drove a bit over an hour right along the shoreline to the small town of Tavira that borders the sea where the Golf of Cadiz meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Going back to the days when the Moors were invaders from Spain, Tavira served as a battleground between the nations. The Santa Maria di Castelo Church in the town center houses the tombs of seven knights killed by the Moors in a bloody battle.

Today, however, the soil is quite sandy with a noticeable salt to it courtesy of the brackish waters of the Gilao River as it flows in the ocean. This soil seems ideal for growing Castelao.

Sadly, when not blended, Castelao has a history of not shipping well. So, either it's a good thing that it goes well with Portuguese food or the locals have chosen to keep it to themselves. In any case, it's a dry red wine with a relatively moderate body, but often both high acidity and high tannins. While they serve it locally at room temperature, cooling it to about 15C/59F will calm the wine down nicely, especially during its youth.

On the nose, we get plenty of red currants, red plum, and strawberry. On the palate, there is a quite distinct bit of cured meat, no doubt from the heavy concentration of salt in the sandy soil. 

Castelao makes a very nice wine especially a few years after bottling, but it's not generally a fancy food wine. If you're not in Portugal, consider pairing it with the likes of chicken tacos made in an Iberian style, perhaps with black beans or maybe local mole. 

If you are in Portugal, however, or if you want to try to duplicate one of their classic dishes, pair it with Polva a Lagereiro (octopus with potatoes ... and I hope I spelled it correctly), a local dish slow cooked by both boliling and then baking in herb-infused olive oil. It's tender and juicy and nicely calms the saltiness of the Castelao.