Favaios & Quinta Avessada

Today we had a break in the weather, we had rain and a nice cool morning. Favaios is a small town of about 1500 folks. Dona a 70 year old little lady showed us how to make four corners rolls. This town had at one time 22 bakeries, now just 8 and they sell them all over that surrounding area. The rolls are baked in a wood oven and are very crunchy on the outside. 

Favaios' museum tells all about their Muscatel wines and the four corners bread. Excellent museum, very organized and appealing. Our feeling about this town was very positive, they may be small, but everything they displayed, presented or created was well done. 

Timing is everything! We got to see the harvest and how the grapes go from the fields to begin processing. The trucks pull up, the grapes are checked for sugar content or actually what will become the alcohol content. Muscat grapes have spots or freakles on them which is a result of the sweetness of the grape  The three that I saw were 10.7, 10.9 and 12. Anything under 10 is not good, over 10 can become a table wine, but 12 and up can be used for the Muscatel. 

Then the containers are pulled from the trucks, weighed and dumped. 

The grapes are pulled in through these tubes, heated, cooled and mixed. The yeast smells very strong. There are many types of barrels used for aging. And depending on the grapes of that year, different lengths of aging. 

Lunch was at the most breathtaking vineyard. 

The same family has owned this vineyard for over 100 year. One of them spoke and told stories about their wine and Portuguese food. 

They had 11 dogs and all were taking an afternoon nap.