Terrantez da Terceira / Arinto dos Açores (Azores)

Let's go from one archipelago to another. In this case, were headed from the 8-island, Spanish-owned Canary Islands to the 9-island, Portuguese-owned Azores. While the Canaries sit barely to the west of the southern end of Morocco and the Azores eoughly 1000 miles to the west of the northern tip, you really can't get from one to the other via commercial means. When I Googled the flights, my fastest trip was a little more than 62 hours. So, of course, we chartered a plane for a direct flight.

The wine industry, so to speak, has been in the Azores, for likely more than 500 years. Locals tell us that Henry the Navigator first brought wine grapes to the islands in the middle of the 15th Century, perhaps Castelao, initially. Today, there are 33 wine grapes authorized in the Azores. Arinto dos Açores, renamed from Terrantez da Terceira in 2012, is probably the most important both because it is only grown on these 9 islands and because it is grown more than any other grape in the Azores.

The best known vineyards on the islands today are protected from the often fierce winds of the islands by large basalt walls. While it would seem that the walls were built to shield the grapevines from those winds, we're told that early farmers seeking to plant grapes needed to move the basalt boulders in order to make the soil arable. So, they decided to take them and build walls with them.

The grapevines were planted at the feet of extinct volcanoes close to the ocean. The volcanic soils  are excellent for growing grapes. In particular, Arinto dos Açores seems to thrive in the basalt-laden soil. Irrigation is natural and the grape resists powdery mildew apparently brought from the US in the mid-19th century better than most other grapes.

On the nose, Arinto dos Açores has notes of apple pie with a bit of lemon. On the palate, the wine is tightly wound with a bit of tang and is loaded with green apples, a bit of grapefruit, and saltiness from the Atlantic Ocean only walking distance from most of vineyards.

Pair your Arinto dos Açores with salty, minerally food. Standouts might be oysters, clams, or croca, a seafood dish often served with pimento.

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